Disclaimer: If they were mine, I wouldn't even be in school right now.

"He still doesn't trust me." Sirius hissed as the two dogs stalked towards Gryffindor tower the next day.

"I don't care if he runs away screaming," Hermione replied, "I'll pin his ass down until he does trust you."

"I think my attitude is rubbing off on you."

"Eeyup."

Hermione glared at a group of sixth years as they looked uneasily at her and Sirius, wondering about the mysterious dogs.

She hid in the shadows as she changed form and beckoned for Sirius to follow her into the tower.

The portrait eyed Sirius' dark form as he skulked into the common room, which went suddenly silent as the dog entered.

He stood there uneasily for a moment before following Hermione as she walked over to Ron.

"Where's Harry?" She cut straight to the chase.

Ron pointed upwards as he frowned at Sirius, "Dorm."

She nodded, "Thanks."

Harry's curtains we drawn shut when they entered the third year boys dorm.

Sirius changed into a human and whistled as he looked around the room, "This looks exactly like it used to. 'Cept of course for personal stuff."

A black haired teen fell out from behind the Gryffindor red curtains and landed awkwardly on the floor as Hermione closed the door.

Harry struggled to his feet and raised a hand, pointing shakily at Sirius as he pressed himself against the wall.

"What the hell is he doing here Hermione?" he gasped.

Sirius raised to hands in submission and stepped back, "Harry, you've got to listen to me."

"No! Get out!" He pointed roughly at the door. "Now!"

Sirius sighed and dropped his hands, "There's really no point Hermione..." he whispered.

She glared at him, "We are not giving up."

Turning to Harry, she growled, "Sit down Harry, you need to listen and understand."

"No! I don't want to hear it!"

She stepped forward, "Harry James bloody Potter sit your annoying ass DOWN!"

Harry's eye's widened momentarily before narrowing angrily, "No! Get out Hermione!"

"Ugh. I give up," Sirius yanked open the door and wandered down stairs.

Hermione heard a scream, "HOLY-! SIRUS BLACK!"

She spun around and dived towards the door and Sirius leapt back through and closed it, "Shit."

She glared at him, "You think? Quickly, change before anyone comes up."

He nodded and did so before proceeding to act dog-ish and chase his tail.

The door banged open, "WHERE IS HE!" Seamus Finnigan yelled as he entered wielding his wand.

Hermione acted confused, "Who?"

"Sirius Black..." He trailed off and looked at Sirius' spinning form, "What the hell is that dog doing?"

Hermione shrugged, "Chasing his tail. At least he's not playing dead."

Sirius pretended to keel over.

She sighed as he jumped up again and wagged his tail.

"Snuffles," She said, "Sit."

He cocked his head to the side, tongue lolling out.

"Please."

Sirius plopped down into a sitting position, tail still wagging.

Seamus looked confused. He shook his head, "So? Where is he!"

Hermione shrugged, "No idea."

"Where the hell could he've gone?" There was a pause, "Harry? Are you okay?"

Hermione looked towards Harry as Seamus questioned her friend, who was hugging his knees as he sat on his bed.

She sighed, "He's fine."

Harry shook his head, "No... 'm not," he croaked.

Seamus frowned and walked over the bed, "What's up?"

Harry pointed at Sirius. "He's a man."

Seamus looked at Sirius, "Uhhh... No. That's a dog Harry."

Harry shook his head, "No. It's Black."

Seamus looked over at the dog as he sat down, "Well, yeah. I can sort of see that."

"No. It's Black."

Seamus' eye's widened, "Wait. What?"

"Shut up Harry," Hermione sighed, "Seriously."

"It is! Holy hell! GRAB HIM!" Seamus made to tackle Sirius.

"I really wouldn't do that Seamus." Hermione warned, stepping in front of Sirius as he began growling quietly.

He glared at her, "What? What're you on about Granger?"

"I said, don't."

Seamus' jaw dropped slightly, "You're with him!"

Hermione's eyes widened, "What! No!" She stopped, "Oh wait, with. Not with." She nodded, "Well duh, I brought him here."

"You're in league with a murderer." Seamus spat.

She snorted, "Pfft, no. Have you actually read the Prophet this week?"

He looked taken aback, "But didn't You just say...?"

She shook her head, "Honestly," before turning around, "We'll be back Harry," She walked towards the door, "Come on Sirius."

"Told you he doesn't trust me."

"Oh, shush."

"Oh my God Harry! See some bloody reason! Even the bloody Minister admits it!"

"Come on mate. You trust me, right? I saw scabbers - Sorry, Pettigrew - with my own eyes!"

Harry was so stubborn sometimes. "No." He crossed his arms and turned away "He murdered my parents!"

Hermione grabbed his shoulder and spun him round, "Now you listen to me Harry Potter," she said, poking him in the chest and effectively pinning him against the wall, "I have had bloody enough of you and your stubborn bloody attitude. I swear to Merlin I'm going to drag your ass down to see Sirius if you don't get up and go see him. Now."

Harry gulped and his eyes widened.

"Uh... Hermione?" Ron tapped her shoulder.

"What!" She twirled around.

"Your um... Your hair."

"What're you talking about?"

Ron gulped, "And your eyes."

"What?"

"They said what?"

"Apparently my hair started flickering and my eyes went black."

"Flickering?"

"As in a different colour."

"That's not good. We have to tell Dumbledore."

Hermione nodded.

"Would you be so kind to fetch Misters Weasley and Potter for me Sirius?"

"Sure."

"Wait! Harry still doesn't trust you."

Sirius sighed, "Oh. Yeah..."

Dumbledore looked shocked, "What?"

Hermione shrugged, "He's a stubborn idiot."

"What about Peter Pettigrew?"

"Stubborn. Idiot."

Dumbledore sighed, "I'll have to send Fawkes with a note then, won't I?"

"Fawkes flew out the window a couple of minutes ago," Hermione informed him, "Hold on. Good time to test this out..."

She changed into an exact duplicate of Fawkes.

"You're getting better at that." Dumbledore commented as he scrawled a note on a spare bit of parchment.

She shrugged, "Yep."

He folded the note and passed it to her. Holding it in her beak, she nodded and took off towards Gryffindor tower.

Landing on the third year boys dorm window, she tapped it with her foot, balancing precariously on the edge.

Harry's head popped into view, "Fawkes?" He opened the window and she hopped in.

"What's that?"

She passed the note to him and he read aloud,

"'Mr Potter,

Please collect Mr Weasley and come to my office immediately.

~Dumbledore.

PS: I love cupcakes.' Huh. Okay then, thanks Fawkes!"

Hermione nodded and flew off.

She landed on Dumbledore's desk, "They're coming," and changed to her human form before slumping into a chair, "Honestly. He's nicer to a bird than one of his best friends..."

Harry entered before Ron and stopped dead at the sight of Sirius.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no."

Dumbledore stood up and walked towards him, "Harry. I know you and Sirius are not really seeing eye-to-eye at the moment, but I need you to put that behind for a while in order to help Hermione."

"Why should I?" Harry snarled.

Dumbledore sighed, "She's your best friend."

Harry glared at her, "She is not our best friend," he turned to Ron, "Right?"

Walking over to Hermione, Ron sighed, "I'm sorry mate. But Hermione has been my friend for almost three years, and I'm not about to abandon her."

Harry suddenly looked vulnerable, "W-what? Come on Ron! You can't believe what she's-"

"I was there Harry," Ron interrupted, "Pettigrew is alive. He admitted to killing your parents and he's now rotting in Azkaban. You've got no choice but to believe us."

Sirius, who had remained silent, stood up; "Harry, I…" He paused, gathering his thoughts, "Lily and James made me their secret keeper, but I convinced them to change to Pettigrew at the last minute. I as much as killed them and I'm sorry. But I didn't know about Pettigrew at the time. We'd been best friends at school! We…" Sirius sighed and covered his eyes, "They were my best friends. I would never do anything to hurt them," He looked up, tears evident, "Y-you've got to believe me Harry. Please!"

As Sirius sobbed the last word and dropped his head into his hands again, Hermione stepped forward to place a hand on his arm. "Sirius?"

The man in question rubbed at his eyes furiously. Sniffling, he continued; "I would never do anything to hurt them, Harry. Or you. You're the only family I've got."

"I'm not your family," Harry growled. Shaking his head, he stormed out of the room and down the spiraling staircase.

Hermione sighed, "I'm sorry Sirius."

Sirius dragged his sleeve across his face in an attempt to gain some composure, "'S not your fault Hermione. Don't worry," He slumped down into his seat.

"He is right Miss Granger. It's neither you nor Sirius' fault."

Hermione nodded, "Okay. But what are we going to do about the flicky thing?"

"You mean your hair?" Ron asked.

She nodded, "Professor Dumbledore needs to know what happened."

"Okay."

Ron sat down in a chair and Hermione found herself to be the only one standing. She stopped awkwardly in the middle of the room, for a second.

"Right…"

Pulling out her wand, she flicked her wrist at the air and conjured a soft armchair next to Sirius.

Sitting down, she smiled at Ron, "Go on then."

He bobbed his head once, and turning to Dumbledore, he began; "Basically Harry was being a stubborn idiot and not listening to Hermione or me, and she started getting pissed," He grimaced slightly in apology, "Uh… I mean, really angry."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he raised an eyebrow and nodded.

"I mean, Hermione was just trying to get him to see some sense but he kept refusing, so she sort of… Pushed him up against the wall and started yelling at him."

"I was yelling?" She blinked in shock, "Seriously?"

Sirius snorted, "Sirius-ly."

Ron laughed at Sirius' joke, "Yeah, you were yelling 'Mione. And I swear; Harry was about to yell back when your hair sort of…" He made a small explosion gesture with his hands, "Poof. "

Dumbledore raised his brow again, "'Poof'?"

Ron continued, "Well, not really poof, 'cause that includes smoke, to be honest. It was more like a zap. It was her normal brown and then it zapped into a black, then back to brown."

"And my eyes?" Hermione asked.

"That was scary 'Mione. I mean, I know you did it before in the Shrieking Shack, but then it was just plain black. This time they became black… flames."

Hermione glanced at the Headmaster and was shocked to find him staring at her with a worried look in his eyes.

"Sir?" she queried.

He sighed and shook his head, "I regret to say that I do not know what to make of this sudden development, Miss Granger. Should anything else occur I wish for you to tell me immediately."

She nodded in understanding.

"This includes the coming summer. Any and all occurrences must be reported to me."

"Yes sir. Another thing sir."

"Yes?"

"What do I tell my parents?"

By the end of the year Harry had still not forgiven her or Ron and still had not agreed to talk to Sirius, who had decided to leave Hogwarts and spend some time with the last of his fellow marauders.

She'd packed her trunk and got a compartment on the Hogwarts Express with Ron when an tiny owl, holding a letter in his beak, fluttered into view.

Opening the window, she allowed the owl to fly in. She pulled the letter off of its leg and read it aloud;

"'Hermione,

Thank you so much for your help this year. I am finally a free man and can return to my home in London.

I'm sorry for causing a rift between you and Harry, and I hope we can fix it during the summer.

I thought your friend Rob might like to keep this owl, as it's my fault his rat is in Azkaban.'"

Ron face lit up as he watched the small bird zoom around the train's compartment.

"Hope to see you soon,

Sirius.'" Hermione smiled, "That's awesome! What you gunna call him Ron?"

Ron coaxed the small owl down from the ceiling, "Hmmm..."

A/N:

What do you think? :3

Do yah like it? :D

~HPA