My Sun

A/N: Hey everyone! This is my first Sirius/Hermione fic, so I hope I'm doing good with this first chapter. Trust me, it gets better as the story moves along, promise!

Chapter 1:

Hermione sat crossed legged at her computer blankly staring at the bright screen illuminating her face in the forbidding darkness surrounding her. She had been in this same position for close to 3 hours. On the computer screen Hermione's email was up and the only email she had was from . For the life of her all Hermione could do was stare. At first she thought that her day out in the sun had caused her to be delusional, but as it didn't disappear after the first hour Hermione knew that she wasn't seeing things. When this revelation occurred, shock overcame her and that is how Hermione had come to her present state.

Hermione was still in her trance when the telephone rang. Throwing blood shot eyes upon the flashing green light she stiffly pushed herself off the couch and steadily made her way to the answering machine were Harry's voice could be heard. Leaning against the door frame to her kitchen were the phone resided, she listened to the last bit of Harry's message saying him and Ginny wished for her to have dinner at their new apartment.

'Dinner.'

Hermione knew what that meant. They wanted to know how she was. If she was getting out and not cooping herself up in her house researching the Veil. Ever since Sirius had fell through she had devoted all her free time to finding out everything about that Veil. Whenever she came close to what Hermione thought to be a break through she would become a recluse. Hermione would spend days on end secluded in her office only to be brought back to another dead end.

Sighing loudly Hermione deleted the message. Her life revolved around this Veil and now that she had an email from Hermione was starting to wonder if her research had finally finished.

'If you keep this up their just going to get more worried and soon they'll be knocking down your door to make sure you didn't suddenly die.'

Hermione's hand rested atop the phone tentatively until deciding it wouldn't hurt to call Harry back, her mind still churning over the email left unread on her computer. Was it real? She didn't know. She hadn't heard from this man in eight years. He had been dead for eight years. Could Sirius actually be back?

No. It's impossible. Hermione had checked and rechecked all her notes, books, files, everything that had any information about that stupid Veil to see if there was anyway possible Sirius could come back threw.

"Hello."

Harry's voice carried to her ear from the phone held loosely in her hand.

"Hey Harry!" Hermione replied.

"Mione! Hey, did you get my message." Harry asked overly excited.

Hermione's eye's narrowed as if she could see his face right in front of her. "Yeah. That's why I'm calling back. I would love to come and have dinner. Ginny was telling me all about the apartment and I can't wait to see what you've done with the place." Hermione smiled. She was good. Very good. He would have to be paying extremely close attention to her tone of voice to catch the slight irritation that slipped out.

"Well we just moved in so it's still mostly boxes and a few odds and ends of furniture, but its got potential. Once Ginny and I start unpacking everything will come into place especially since Molly insists on helping."

"Yes, that does sound like Molly. So when should I be expected for dinner?" Hermione wanted to move this conversation along quickly. Sure she loved Harry and Ginny, but her mind seemed to focus solely on the email waiting to be read.

"Would tomorrow be to soon? Ginny has been badgering me this whole week about when you would be coming and then insisted that you be here at least by Friday." Harry pleaded like a kid that wanted the big cup of ice cream.

"Tomorrow sounds lovely Harry. Are any of the Weasely's coming or will it just be use three?" Hermione questioned needing to know how many different people she would have to act in front of without being caught and lectured over how she needed to let go of the Veil and move on.

"Only Ron and you. The other Weasely's have already come by including Percy." Harry replied a note of disgust hidden in his words.

"Was he really that bad?" Hermione asked.

"Hermione, Fred and George literally kicked him out the door because they couldn't stand him any longer."

Though Harry stated this as a fact Hermione could picture Harry smiling at the other side of the line.

"Oh I'm sorry Harry. You will have to fill me in on the details tomorrow at dinner. I'm afraid I have to go know I need to get done a pile of papers for St. Mungo's and it looks as if it will take me all night." Hermione knew how to weasel her way out of a conversation so she could read that email.

"Alright Mione. See you tomorrow for dinner at six." Harry replied.

"See you at six Harry." Hermione finished before hanging up the phone.

Hurriedly Hermione scribbled on a sticky note she was having dinner at Harry and Ginny's tomorrow. She then half ran half-skidded back to her computer were the email that had plagued her mind for the last four hours waited. Hesitant Hermione clicked on the email and it popped onto the screen allowing her too finally read its contents. Taking a deep breath Hermione began to read.

This afternoon the sun shone rays of yellow down on a garden. The flowers were just starting to bloom and rain clouds could be seen moving in to lightly sprinkle the damp grass yet again. I was sitting next to an enchanting girl who seemed to weave a spell on me for I couldn't take my eyes off her. The sun brightly gleamed around her, her hair turning a golden chestnut brown and deep warm amber eyes shining mysteriously at me as a smile flashed across her face. I had pulled her aside to ask her to make sure Harry and Ron stayed out of trouble this year more than ever wanting to stress the importance that this be done. As I gazed upon this creature that had to be a goddess I could no longer say anything. When I opened my mouth to speak a resounding uh escaped. Quickly closing my mouth I mentally slapped myself as she laughed and I wished she would laugh again. Stepping forward the goddess stood on her tip toes brushing my cheek ever so lightly with her lips and whispered in my ear 'I will.' She must have read my mind for I knew she was telling me she would look after Harry and Ron. My cheek seemed to tingle from the feel of her lips on my skin. She gave me another beautiful smile before turning and getting on the bus taking them to the train station.

If this jogs any sort of memory please come to Diagon Alley and wait by Flourish and Blots Saturday at four.

Hermione felt a rush of excitement and nervousness as a sinking feeling of disbelief settled in the pit of her stomach. She suddenly had a strong urge to vomit and Hermione wished she had never opened the email and had just deleted it. There was no possible way. No logical explanation. It had to be a trick a prank being played by the twins to see how far she would go to bring Sirius back to everyone.

'But how would they have known about that day. No one knew what happened in the garden that day, only her and Sirius.'

Hermione could recall that exact moment.

Flash back:

She had woken up early. This was her fifth year at Hogwarts and she hoped that it would prove to be one of the most enjoyable. This was mostly because of all the chaos last year. She currently couldn't find one of her shoes, which matched her outfit perfectly. Hermione had taken extra care to look nice today because this was the last day she would see Sirius until Christmas and she wanted to make sure his lasting impression of her was a good one.

Hermione had developed a small crush on Sirius gradually since he had escaped Azkaban during her third year. During the summer the crush had become more prominent and Hermione was finding it harder to repress her feelings. She now blushed so easily around him Hermione was sure she looked like a ripe cherry whenever he was close by. Finally giving up on her lost shoe Hermione turned around to head back to her suitcase and bring it downstairs to find that her path was blocked by none other than Sirius Black himself.

He held her missing shoe in one of his hands, but didn't offer it to her. Instead he motioned for her to follow him and gave her back her shoe only after she asked for the tenth time where they were going.

'We are going to the garden. I need to talk to you about this upcoming school year with Harry and Ron.' said Sirius waiting for Hermione to slide her shoe on before continuing to walk down the hallway and through a door at the end.

All Hermione could do was follow and ponder in the back of her mind how she would be all alone with Sirius and if he had taken other girls out to the garden, but for a much different purpose than the current one.

End Flash back:

The rest had happened just how the email had said except she didn't use all of the adjectives in her version. Never thinking she to be a looker and not with thoughts of what Sirius might have been thinking. At least not the way the email had told. That was the last time she had talked to him alone before his death.

Hermione sank to the floor leaning against the wall. She brought her knees to her chest and lowered her head to rest on them. It couldn't be possible, but Hermione couldn't shake the feeling of hopefulness that rose in her. If this wasn't a prank she could bring Sirius back. Harry would be so happy maybe this would help ease some of the pain from the war, but wouldn't Sirius have come back already if he really had returned from the Veil?

Hermione brought her head back to rest against the wall behind her. She needed to escape just for a little while. Reality was getting to be too much right now and a good book usually lightened the impact at times like these, but she didn't want to go to another world either to be faced with the character's problems. Hermione wanted no problems to deal with at all. Not moving from her position on the floor, Hermione reached towards a pair of scissors that rested on one of the multiple stacks of papers on her coffee table.

Taking a deep breath Hermione opened the scissors and pressed the edge against the pale skin on the underside of her arm. Only a small cut to release some of the stress, to get rid of some of the problems settling in her mind to haunt her later at odd moments in the day. As the scissors sliced her delicate flesh she felt the sting of a fresh cut. Hermione's eye's were closed as she cut deeper into her arm until she felt warm blood well up and run down from the small gash that marred her tender skin.

Sucking in slow steady breaths, she opened her eyes to watch as more blood ran down her arm to her fingers where it dripped onto her cream carpet. All of her problems went with the blood sliding down her arm. Hermione felt a weight lift from her shoulders as she let herself slip into a deep sleep.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When Hermione woke up it had only be a couple hours since she had fallen asleep. The sun was peaking over the horizon and any hope of being able to go back to sleep left Hermione as she heard a bird chirp outside her window. Looking over at the clock that shone from her microwave, she could see that it read 4:30.

Slowly Hermione propped herself up using the wall to see the bloodstain left on her once perfect carpet. Unconsciously she touched her fingertips to the cut in her skin only to retract them with a sharp hiss. The skin was tender and had only recently scabbed over. Going to retrieve spot cleaner from her laundry room to clean up the mess, Hermione let her eyes travel to her injured arm.

The gash was a bright red that suggested that it could still bleed. Were her blood had run down her arm it dried leaving a crust on her skin. Hermione knew she would have to wear long sleeves that day to Harry and Ginny's for dinner so that they didn't question her about its origin. She didn't need to give them another reason to worry about her. It would just be her secret and she had many secrets. Why should this one be any different?

Sighing Hermione went upstairs to her bathroom and turned on the shower. Stepping in she let the hot water run over her for a few minutes relaxing in the steady beating of the water. Her muscles, that had been tense throughout the night, loosened and the knots began to come undone. The aroma of cucumber and melon filled her bathroom as she finished getting ready 20 minutes later.

For once in a long time Hermione allowed herself the luxury of taking her time getting ready and decided to look like she had took time getting ready. She didn't have to use spells anymore to control her hair. Over the years the bushy frizz had settled into soft curls that accented her round face and small nose. The rich brown accommodated her honey colored eyes, which she used a darker brown eye shadow and a light coat of mascara to bring out. Her lightly applied cover-up and lip-gloss finished the look and helped hide the dark circles under her eyes from lack of sleep and cracked lips that had been continuously chewed on.

Hermione walked into her small closet grabbing a white blouse that tied in the back with puffed selves, pulled on light colored jeans that fit nicely, and slipped on a pair of gold heeled flip flops. As she headed towards her door Hermione grabbed her cell phone and stuffed it in her big leather black purse and slide on her Prada sunglasses. Hermione flicked her wand at her apartment door to activate her wards before exchanging her wand for her car keys. She sank into the black leather seat of her Accord before heading off to her favorite coffee shop.

The bells tinkled from above the door signaling that a customer had just come in. The owner looked up from behind the baker's rack, still finishing some of the pastries for the day. At the sight of one of her favorite regulars she smiled and laid down her oven mite, wiping her hands on her apron before coming around the counter to give a warm hug to who had just walked through the door.

"It's been a long time since you've been in my coffee shop missy!" the short woman said squeezing the other woman tightly in her grasp.

"It has only been a few weeks Alina." replied Hermione as she squeezed just as tightly.

"Well that doesn't mean it hasn't seemed like forever." Alina answered hands on her hips in a very motherly fashion.

"I thought I had found something. I couldn't just let that get away. You know how important this job is to me. Any clue could lead to the discovery I've been searching for." said Hermione.

"Yes well, what can I get you this early morning?" asked Alina.

"I think I'll have one of those freshly baked blueberry muffins with a hazelnut steamer. I'm treating myself today." answered Hermione.

"And why may I ask are you treating yourself? Did you finally met someone or does this have to do with why I haven't seen you for so long." inquired Alina.

"No, I haven't met anyone Alina. I think I have finally come to the end of all my research." Hermione answered.

"Really? Now that is something to celebrate. You shouldn't be cooped up in buildings all day and having no fun. Let's say you and I go out and have a girls night in the city?" suggested Alina.

"I wish I could, but I'm having dinner at a friends house tonight. They just moved into their apartment and I have yet to see it. We'll have to schedule that girls night for some other time." Hermione regretfully replied.

"I'll take you for your word on that so no backing out." joked Alina.

Hermione picked up the plate that held her muffin and grabbed her steamer to make her way over to her favorite spot. Right then the bell tinkled again and a young man around the age of 25 came in. A smirk played on Hermione's lips as she watched the way Alina tried to quickly brush off any invisible dirt and how the man tugged nervously at his shirtsleeve. They were so cute together Hermione wished one of them would just perk up the courage to ask the other to dinner.

Her eyes sadly flicked to the empty chair across from her. Hermione knew no one would ever be that way with her. She would never have some one that she could love. Even if she wanted to Hermione couldn't, not after everything that had happened. The war against Voldemort had caused her to become cold. She could never trust people. No one can be trusted in a war, and without trust how can you love? No, Hermione knew she would die alone. Sure she had her friends, but she would never have that special someone that would make her stomach flip flop when she saw them or heard their voice.

Alina could though and Hermione was going to make sure that it didn't slip by. Alina was beautiful with her long black hair and stunning light green eyes. Her petite frame made her seem delicate, but anyone who talked to her knew that this olive skinned beauty was one person you didn't tangle with. She was just about 23 and still going to college to complete her study for interior design and was keeping the family business running while her mom recovered from breast cancer.

Getting up suddenly Hermione cleaned up her table before turning back to Alina, who was blushing profusely while asking what the man would like to have today, and said, "Hey Alina sorry again that I can't do anything with you tonight. Maybe you can find someone else to have dinner with."

The guy's head turned to Hermione and then looked back at Alina. As the door closed behind her Hermione could hear the man ask her to dinner and Alina accepting. A smile plastered itself on her face as she headed to the office for a day filled with filing papers and taking orders from a lazy boss, who cared more about 3 cubes of sugar in his coffee then doing his job. She would never become a doctor at St. Mungo's at this rate, but Hermione wasn't going to quite. She was determined.

*******
The elevator dinged doors opening to the 5th floor. Hermione made her way to her small office that was the about the size of a broom cupboard filled to the limit with books and file cabinets. Her desk was neatly organized with a fresh stack of papers in the middle for her to add to the already overflowing files. She would have to use another enlargement spell soon or else there would be no more room in the file cabinets.

A knock on her door warned her of her boss and left Hermione just enough time to sit down before he came in. He was a stubby man around mid-fifties. His face was pudgy and his eyes seemed mouse like while his nose was extremely oversized. There was slight stubble on his chin and cheeks and the drastically receding hairline had a futile attempt to be covered. The suspenders he wore religiously strained to the limit and the last three buttons of his shirt tugged to suggest a need for a bigger size.

"Ah! Miss Granger there you are! I've been looking all over for you. Did

you not remember that the meeting with Mr. Bailey was today? This meeting could set how St. Mungo's works for the next decade! He is a very hard man to please, whenever he asks you to do something you do it. Now lets go! I've got some things for you to do and don't forget to bring the proposal!" he said before hurrying out the door.

"Yes Mr. Clemence. I'll be right there." replied Hermione sagging tiredly into her chair.

She had forgotten about the morning meeting today. She had meant to talk to Mr. Bailey of the need to make long term patients feel more at home, and maybe redo their rooms temporally with a simple decorating spell she had learned. Grabbing the proposal Hermione swiftly walked to her boss's office got him his coffee with 3 cubes of sugar and headed to the meeting room. Mr. Clemence was trusting her with presenting the idea she had come up with, even though it was his job, to Mr. Bailey.

Quickly Hermione set up for the meeting laying out papers and information packets, ink bottles and quills, setting up the three-dimensional diagram that she would suspend to the left of her when presenting. Running her hands over her outfit to smooth out any wrinkles Hermione realized she was wearing jeans to close a big deal, slight panic ran through her before she accepted the fact, having left her wand tucked in her purse.

Two hours later Hermione stood at the front of the room shaking hands with Mr. Bailey, who said he would get back to her within the week. A smile spread on her face triumphantly. She had sealed the deal. There was no way she would stay under Mr. Clemence much longer after this.

"Well done Miss. Granger. That has to be one of the most convincing and convicting proposals I've had to listen to in a long time. You did very well." said Mr. Bailey as they headed towards the doorway.

"Thank you Mr. Bailey, but there was something else I wanted to talk to you about. Some of the long-term patients stay in rooms just like every other hospital. Now I know that there can only be so much done, but if you were in a situation like theirs would you not find it more comfortable to have a homely feel about your room. I've been researching an easy way to do so with this simple decorating charm and immediately the room fits itself to their personality. It can be changed every time someone new takes over the room and helps make the patient feel more at home." finished Hermione just as they came upon the front door.

"It is obvious that you have given this a lot of thought and I think the idea is wonderful. Usually most of the long-term patients spend the rest of their life in this place, why not make them comfortable? I will make sure to talk about it with the head of St. Mungo's, but don't worry I'll give you the credit you deserve." said Mr. Bailey with a smile as he stepped outside the door and with a 'pop' was gone.

A smile graced her face at his words. 'Kill two birds with one stone.' The rest of the day went by smoothly and before she knew it Hermione was back at her apartment getting ready to aparate to Harry and Ginny's. She used a quick concealing charm on her arm not having time to spare with changing her outfit.

Hermione stood in front of a white door locked from outsiders to protect the five apartments in the quaint building. She ran her finger down the short column of names quickly coming across the line that read Potter's 457 and pushed the button opposite of their name. A loud ringing could be heard until Ginny's voice came through the speaker.

"Hello?" said Ginny.

"Hey Ginny! It's Hermione am I early for dinner? I thought I was going to be late." Hermione answered, rushing through as her nerves began to get the better of her.

She didn't want them to notice anything was different with her. The concealing charm kept them from seeing the cut on her arm, but there were other signs. The dark circles that could still be seen hanging under her eyes. The way her clothes had become loose on her and how her stomach had shrunk so that she had to pull up her pants every now and then. Hermione wanted to get through dinner see her friends and enjoy herself until she had to go home and face the fact that she still hadn't decided if she was going to meet whoever had sent her the email tomorrow at Diagon Alley.

"Oh Hermione! No, no you're right on time! Harry told me my mother was coming to decorate today, but when she didn't come and then the doorbell rang I knew it couldn't be her because of the time. I'm so glad that you could finally stop by." said Ginny, beginning to ramble because of the excitement of seeing her friend.

A soft click was heard indicating that the white doors had been unlocked. Hermione walked inside and headed up to room 457. This night would be easy, no reason to get so worried. Just dinner with friends and then a nice quiet night at home. Except for the fact that she had yet to make a decision about Diagon Alley. The thought that not going might be a loss of another clue made an anxiousness set in, but the thought of going and it being a prank made her chest compress in on her lungs causing breathing to become difficult.

Hermione didn't even have time to knock on the door because of Ginny hurtling towards her. She was absolutely glowing at seeing her friend and immediately ushered her in and began a tour of the place. There was one bedroom, two baths, a kitchen, living room, and dinning area. The perfect size for a newly wed couple to start their lives together.

Though there were still boxes piled high in every room the majority of furniture was unpacked allowing Hermione, Ron, Harry, and Ginny chairs to sit in during the evening. Hermione had ended up having a wonderful time and was glad she had accepted. She had not seen any of them for a few weeks now and realized just how much she had missed them. Although, that didn't mean she missed their constant inquiries.

"So Hermione what have you been up to lately? Haven't seen you in…how long has it been Harry? Two weeks?" asked Ginny, leaning in as if to make sure she didn't miss any of the details.

"I've been busy at work and have been doing some research. I think I may have finally made a break through." answered Hermione, refusing to go into detail.

"Researching what?" asked Ron.

"Just research that I've been working on." said Hermione, continuing to be vague.

"Hermione I thought you had given up on the Veil. You need to let it go and move on we all miss him, but you're only making things harder on others to forget as well. Please just let it go." interjected Harry his face showing a pain he blocked from escape.

"I'm not giving up and I think I really have come to the end of it with this last piece of information! If I'm making it harder on others then I'll just stop talking to people! I'm not giving up until I find a way to bring him back! What happened to never quite and you can always beat the odds? The war was hard on everyone, but I'm not going to let that effect me! Now if you'll excuse me I need to be getting home. I have a busy day tomorrow and I would like to have my rest. Thank you for dinner and the apartment is lovely." stated Hermione, getting up from her chair she quickly grabbed her things and without waiting for someone to speak left.

A loud 'pop' was heard as Hermione aparated into her apartment. Slipping off her shoes she changed into a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top. Her thoughts scrambled in her mind not knowing what to settle first. The fact that Harry believed Hermione was making it harder for everyone to let go of Sirius, or the fact that they wanted her to give up on it. She was beginning to regret accepting the invitation. Everything had been going so well until friends were friends and became nosy.

As Hermione paced in her living room she suddenly noticed something had popped up on her computer. Sitting down she saw it was another email. She froze in place thumb in mouth bitten down on, the other hand resting gently on the computer. Slowly she dragged the mouse and clicked on the new email.

From:

To:

Subject:

Please come.

Hermione stared at the email confused on what it meant. All she knew was that there was no longer a debate in her head about going tomorrow. She had to know.

Hermione woke up eyes bleary from the fitful sleep she had managed. Her dreams had been filled with memories of Sirius. The one that had frightened her most was when Harry had told her and Ron of how Sirius had been captured by Voldemort. A faded image had been behind it all of the Veil. Her eyes drifted to the alarm clock that sat on her bedside table were it read 7:00am.

Rolling out of bed Hermione headed for the bathroom. She didn't come back out until an hour and a half later. Her hair was in a loose ponytail letting the brown chandler earrings she wore show. She had again taken time to get ready and wore a light coat of make-up. She wore a short sleeved red tailored blouse with khaki bermuda shorts and wedge heels. Upon reaching the kitchen Hermione felt Crookshanks rub against her legs.

Hermione reached down and pet him putting food and water out for him. She went about making her own breakfast, eggs and a slice of toast with jelly on it. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat down at the table dragging a thick folder over to sort through for work. Crookshanks jumped up on the table lying atop another pile on the opposite side of the table. Five hours later Hermione finally decided to take a break and get some lunch fixed.

She ended up eating a deli sandwich with carrots and chips setting a diet coke on the table as well. Hermione got the television remote and turned it on flipping through the channels to find something entertaining to watch. Her choices were between an old western, a stand up comedian, and some court show. She settled for the court show intrigued by the scandal the show aired today.

The guy was claiming the woman had slept with him and when she had gotten pregnant she wouldn't let him see the child. The woman is claiming that she never became pregnant from him and had been with another guy at the time. She didn't understand why it really mattered, since the guy had admitted to being married and the women was with another guy. She wondered how the partners were handling the fact that they had been cheated on.

Finished with lunch Hermione continued to watch the show as she sipped on her diet coke, not realizing the time slipping by so fast. When she was done with the diet coke, Hermione picked up her plate and looked at the clock. It read 3:45pm she had 15 minutes to get to Diagon Alley, where she was suppose to meet who had sent her the email. Setting down her plate and can haphazardly in the sink Hermione ran to her fireplace.

Grabbing some floo powder she threw it into the fireplace before stepping in and saying Diagon Alley. She landed inside Flourish and Blots and quickly brushed herself off. Hermione checked her watch and saw it read 3:50. Walking out of the shop she stood outside the front window and searched the small crowd of people for some sign of a familiar face or someone headed in her direction, but there was nothing.

Looking down at her watch again Hermione noticed that it hadn't even reached 4:00 yet. They still might be on their way here.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Please review and let me know what you think!