This chapter has been re-beta'ed. So thank you to the weirdness, for the first look through, and to Noel –Cullen, who is doing it again. You guys rock

Love,

Chrys

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"That was the best night's sleep I've had in years!" Sirius said happily, as he entered the kitchen to find Hermione cooking breakfast.

"Glad to know I chose a good mattress," Hermione replied softly as she scraped the scrambled eggs out of the pan and onto two plates. Pancakes quickly followed by two bowls of fruit. "Hungry?"

Sirius was already grabbing the plates and moving them over to the small table in the sunlit breakfast room. "Starving," he answered as he set the plates down.

Behind him, Hermione was carrying two mugs and a teakettle. "Then sit down and eat, before it gets cold."

Sirius pulled her chair out for her and moved some things around so she could set the heavy tea kettle down, before taking his own seat. Hermione gave him a sweet smile and sat down in the chair he had pulled out, next to him. "Thank you," she said when he took the kettle and poured them both a cup of tea.

He nodded, and took a sip of his tea before diving into his plate. Hermione was amused at the way he attacked his food, as if it were going to disappear any minute now. "No one's going to steal your food from you Sirius…" she said with a laugh.

Sirius looked up at her and swallowed his mouthful of eggs, which she appreciated, because if it had been Ron he would have spoken with his mouth full, and said, "I apologize for my table manners… its been a while since it mattered." He looked ashamed of himself and started sectioning off very small pieces before putting them in his mouth, no longer attacking the plate of delicious food in front of him.

Hermione could see that he hadn't taken it as the joke she meant it to be. She placed her hand over the one he had laying flat on the table, "You don't have to apologize, Sirius, I know everything's different; I was just making a joke…"

Sirius' back straightened and he looked her straight in the eye with a very smug and proud look upon his face, "Still, that is no excuse for my behavior, I am the only surviving son of the noble house of Black, and as such, need to grow up and start acting like it!"

Hermione stared at him silently, and they both took a few seconds pause before erupting into laughter. Hermione shook her head, "Yeah, like that's ever going to happen…"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" He said with a sly smile plastered across his face.

"I hope not, I would hate to have to deal with a 'Noble Son of the House of Black'…" She laughed as she pulled her hand off of his and started eating once more, immensely enjoying the pancakes and eggs.

Sirius nodded and continued eating his breakfast, feeling an odd sense of loss at the lack of contact between him and Hermione, but he simply brushed it off. He hadn't been with a woman in 17 years or so… of course he would react when someone as beautiful as Hermione touched him, even if it was an innocent touching of hands.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Sirius asked trying to take his mind away and place it on other things.

"To tell you the truth… I don't have a clue. Since Ron and I broke up, I've spent every waking moment on trying to figure out that damn veil… and now that you're back, I'm not sure what to do." Hermione replied honestly, she was lost once more, and had no idea where to go from here.

"What about a job? I'm sure there are loads of people out there that would want a beautiful and talented witch such as you, to work for them." Sirius said taking another sip of his tea.

"I'm sure there is, but I want to do something I'm interested in, not just any job…"

"Ah! So that's the problem… you're not sure just what you want to do, huh?"

Hermione picked up her mug and took a long drink of it, "No clue. But I do know I want to do something more exciting than just research. I've had my head stuck in so many books the last few years that I want to do something else. I mean, I don't mind doing research every now and then, but I want to be part of the action, part of the every day hustle and bustle of things too, you know?"

Sirius nodded. He had finished off his food and was relaxing against the back of the chair, drinking from his mug. "You could be a Medi-Witch," he suggested, trying to think of jobs off the top of his head.

"That's possible, but it would break my heart every time I couldn't fix someone…" she said looking down and thinking of all the wounds she hadn't been able to heal while out on the battlefield.

"Ok, you could… become an Auror, I'm sure Harry would be more than happy to work with you; you two always did work famously together…"

"That might not be that bad of an idea…"

Sirius nodded, "Or you could always take a few months vacation, live off the money the ministry gave you, help me get acclimated to life again, so on and so forth…"

She gave a small laugh, almost brushing it off until she took a second to think about it, Why not? It wasn't as if she didn't have enough money to do so. And she had been working her ass off the last few months; didn't she deserve a break? "I think I might just take you up on that offer, I'm quite tired of working and I do deserve a holiday."

Sirius smiled at her and drained the last drops from his cup, "I still have a good plan or two up here," he said pointing to his head.

Hermione stood and patted his head like she would an adorable mutt, "Not bad… for an old man, at least." she gave him a beautiful smile filled with laughter before sashaying away from him to put the dishes in the skink.

Sirius followed with his own dish, mug, and the tea kettle, "Hey, I resent that. I'm not old! You forget, wizards live much longer than muggles do. Meaning, right now, I'm in the prime of my life."

She took his plate and after placing a quick charm on all of the dishes to wash and dry themselves, she turned toward him. "Fine, fine, I won't call you old if you don't think of me as a child."

Sirius gave her a sad smile, "Hermione, I stopped thinking of you, Harry and Ron as children when you first had to face Voldemort. You've all been through so much you never really did get to be children."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Ain't that the truth…"

Sirius nodded, "So no wise cracks about my age, and I'll treat you like the adult you've always been. Do we have a deal?" He said holding out his hand.

She took it, and shook on it, a lighthearted smile appearing on her face. When she dropped his hand, she looked up and asked, "Want to go down to Diagon Alley? Yesterday all you got was new clothes; we could look at some books, and other stuff you might need?

"I'd love to," he said, moving away from her and towards the stairs, "Let me change real fast and we can go."

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Diagon Ally hadn't changed much in the years since he had been gone, that is except for the addition of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. All of the shop keepers that had fled once Voldemort had risen, and that were still alive, had returned. Those shops that had lost their owners were now run by other people.

"Their shop is doing good then, huh?" Sirius asked Hermione, nodding his head over to WWW.

"One of the hottest shops in town, and a new one is opening up over in Hogsmead. It's already surpassed how popular Zonko's is by a billion." Hermione answered proudly.

"Well let's go in… see what tricks the Weasley's have up their sleeves these days." Sirius said offering his arm and a smile to her.

She gave a grin back at him and placed her arm around hers, "Fine by me… but you better not use anything damaging of theirs in my house."

Sirius laughed, "I wouldn't dream of it."

Hermione rolled her eyes and let him lead her over to the shop. A chime announced their presence as they pushed open the door, and they found themselves inside a shop packed full of every thing the twins had ever invented. There were a few people in the shop, mostly parents with their young children, who were too young to attend Hogwarts just yet. It was already September and as such the largest clientele of WWW was already at school.

When George heard the chime he turned around to greet his customers, but stood their dumbstruck at the two before him. He quickly pulled his wand and trained it on Sirius, "Who are you, and why are you using Polyjuice to look like a dead man?"

Sirius stood completely still, and wasn't entirely sure what to do. Luckily, Hermione was always a fast thinker; "You didn't read the paper this morning, did you, George?"

"I don't read the paper: all they print is lies." His hand was not wavering.

"This time they told the truth… You know I've been working on the veil in the Department of Mysteries… last night Sirius, Remus and Tonks, stepped through it… He isn't an imposter George…it really is Sirius." Hermione said calmly, letting her arm out of Sirius' and moving forward towards George. George, who still hadn't gotten over the loss of his twin, refused to believe it… 'No one could come back from the dead right?'

George moved his wand until it was pointed directly on Hermione, "Safe word?" he asked quietly.

"Pigmy Puff… Jeez George, I'm telling the truth." Hermione stood there with her hands on her hips and a sympathetic smile on her mouth.

George looked at her and back at Sirius. "The winter before you fell through the veil, what did Fred and I ask you?" he asked, thinking of something only himself, the real Sirius, and his late brother would know.

"You asked for advice for the best way to piss off Umbridge and leave the school would be… I gave you the idea for the fireworks that multiplied when banished."

George lowered his wand and came around the counter; "You're really back…"

"In the flesh." Sirius answered his body relaxing now that he didn't have a wand pointed directly at him.

George smiled and gave Sirius a hug, "Nice to have a fellow troublemaker back."

Sirius smiled, "You and your brother always were the next generation of Marauders. Speaking of which, where's F--"

But before he could finish his sentence Hermione finished it for him, "Flaming Firewhiskey. Weren't you telling me that it makes the drinker act like a Flamer, for hours after they drink it?"

Hermione gave a look to Sirius, silently begging him not to try to ask the question again. Luckily, he understood and nodded, "Yeah, I was thinking of sending some to a few old friends… let them know I'm back."

George nodded, "It's off in the back corner, behind the back-firing wands."

"Why don't you go back and get a case or two, Sirius, while I chat with George?" Hermione asked softly, to which Sirius simply nodded his head and moved to the back of the store.

"I got a question for you 'Mione." George said, turning his head and looking back at her.

"Yeah, George?"

"If Tonks and Remus can come back… do you think…"

Hermione laid a hand over his on the counter, "I don't think so George… I think it has something to do with the Resurrection Stone, which Harry used in the last battle… I think the only reason they got to come back was because Harry stopped them from moving on when he picked up the stone…"

George bowed his head, and paused for a few minutes, "I'm glad that they got to come back… both him and Remus had such craptastic lives… they deserve another chance, don't you think?"

"I do… but I also wish no one would have had to die in the first place…" Hermione said, giving his hand a squeeze.

"Me to, Hermione. Me too."

Just then Sirius came back holding a crate of Flaming Firewisky. On top of the crate were a few bags of other mischievous candies and tricks that Sirius had found quite interesting.

"Got enough stuff there, Sirius?" Hermione asked playfully.

"Not nearly, but I don't want to buy everything now… give me a reason to come back every now and then." Sirius answered setting the crate and all of his new toys on the counter.

"That's the idea Sirius… can't have too much of a good thing." George said slightly laughing…

"No, that's what Constantly Laughing Taffy is for." Sirius replied.

George nodded, and quickly counted everything up, telling Sirius the total. Sirius passed the money over to the man and smiled, pulling out his wand and shrinking everything so that it could fit in his pocket.

"Lovely doing business with a fellow Marauder." Sirius said holding out his hand, to which George smiled and took.

"If you have any questions about the products, feel free to floo over and ask." George said, giving him a mischievous smile.

Sirius grinned and gave a soft chuckle, "I think I have it under control."

George nodded, "I'm sure you do."

Hermione gave George a kiss on the cheek, "Next Friday, dinner at my house, everyone's coming, so can I set a place at the table for you?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world, 'Mione." George said, glad to be included.

"Good, come by around 6 then. Have a good day."

George nodded and watched them leave the store.

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Once outside and walking towards Flourish and Botts, Sirius turned to Hermione, "Now, why did you stop me from asking my question? We were in there for ten minutes and I didn't see Fred once - I thought they always worked together…"

"Fred died in the war, Sirius… that's why I stopped you from asking…Think about it. You and Remus and Tonks get to come back, but Fred doesn't… does that seem very fair to a boy who's never been without his twin?"

"Oh…" Sirius hung his head… why hadn't Fred stayed in the room… he would have been able to come back with them if he hadn't gone through to the other side.

"Now aren't you happy I stopped you?" Hermione asked, very high and mightily.

"Very…" Sirius answered.

"Now… on a lighter note, I hear that they came out with a new edition of Quidditch Through The Ages… I think Harry would like that, especially because they mention him in it… I think he has his own chapter, 'Youngest Seeker in a Century' or something like that."

Sirius smiled and rolled his eyes… "Only you would think a good gift for Harry is a book… that's like giving me a pair of bright pink boxer shorts…"

Hermione thought to herself, "That can be arranged, love… that can be arranged."

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