Disclaimer I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER or anything else to that matter...gotta buy something...

Knowledge

Hermione loved Sirius with every step he took in the other direction. She knew that if they deserved a happy ending, and God's knows that they did, they wouldn't get it with each other. She hated thinking those things but they had to be thought.

Everyone knew; well, they didn't know at all, which was part of the reason why Sirius was walking away from her. For once in her life – no, she'd wanted the same thing repeatedly at different points in her past – she wanted to do what she liked regardless of what people would think. But she was the practical Hermione Granger and not a Marauder like her lover.

And thus she was back to thinking about him, even though it hurt so much to do so as he took charge of their relationship – or whatever it was, seeing as it felt like so much more – and walked away from her. She loved him even more for it, thanking him for being the one in charge since she was fed up of being the leader (in intellect and planning) of the Golden Trio.

Without voicing her thanks, she thanked him and knew that he had heard her; he who always saw everything she wished to keep hidden – her ideas; her feelings; her love.

Yes – he knew that particular thing more than most. In fact, he had probably known it all along. Hermione wondered at this. Perhaps knowledge doesn't save you in the end but quite the opposite. It condemned their relationship, didn't it? Or could it be that it was other people's lack of knowledge about their connection that led to the failure of whatever it was they felt for each other?

Was that the answer, perhaps? Has Sirius known this when he had started to walk away? Hermione asked herself these questions. Yes. Yes, he had known. Of course he had known because she knew it when he started to abandon her and Sirius knew everything she knew because of their link.

A new thought came to her. Did she actually know that their partnership would be rejected by society? Was there an old musty tome somewhere with Sirius Black and Hermione Granger crossed out because they shouldn't be together? Hermione had never read about such a book in all her life. And isn't all the knowledge of the world written in books?

Hermione had never read anything that suggested that Sirius and herself couldn't be a couple. No scrap of parchment had said that their relationship was doomed before it had begun and wouldn't be accepted.

Her logical side was trying to process the ideas her brain was creating. She asked herself a question that scared her.

If nothing has ever been written to say that Sirius Black and Hermione Granger cannot love each other, due to the fact that all knowledge is written or has been written or will be written at one point, does this mean that their relationship exists outside the boundaries of knowledge? And if so, will it matter if people know about it if the knowledge of it doesn't exist?

Sirius had been walking slowly. He knew the agreement she had come to with her conscience. She didn't need to say a word but Hermione wanted to talk aloud.

"It doesn't matter if people know."

He didn't turn around. Oh, he had heard her alright – even if he hadn't, Sirius knew exactly what Hermione was thinking, just as she knew his thoughts.

He used this skill by remaining silent. Hermione picked up on this. She spoke again.

"If you don't care, I don't." Hermione paused. Because knowledge didn't cover their relationship she wasn't sure what to say next.

"That is, if you want us to work. Do you?" Sirius had turned around at this. The tiredness that she had seen earlier had left his eyes and had been replaced by the shimmer of happiness that Hermione knew was reflected in her own.

He set off back towards her at the same slow pace he had walked away from her with. It didn't take an excessively long time. This was not a passage from a romance novel.

He stood in front of her, tall and proud, meaning that she had to tilt her head to be able to look him in the eye.

He moved closer and pressed her body into his; his mouth covering hers in a searing kiss. They both committed it to memory, the entire incident, for reference for future arguments that they now had a chance of having.

"Of course I want us to work," Sirius said after they had both caught their breath.

Hermione stored every scrap of knowledge about their relationship and their argument. For if they, as a couple, didn't exist in the face of knowledge it was up to her to collect more information to add to its coffers.

Like usual, Hermione would push at the boundaries of knowledge. And with Sirius by her side, together they would find out more knowledge than they both believed to be possible.