It was predictably awkward the next morning. Hermione wouldn't look at Tonks when she thought Tonks might be looking at her, which was often as Tonks insistently shot her wistful looks from across the room. In fact, perhaps wistful was not the right way to describe it – it was perhaps nearer, Hermione thought, to that kind of wistful sadness more commonly described as...

No. It was not that four letter word that she vowed she would never ever think of when Tonks might be even lurking in the shadows of her mind. It was not. She would not let it be.

And yet...

Hermione excused herself from the breakfast table and went back upstairs. She didn't want to go back to that room but there was no place else she could go without one of the many Weasleys, or even Harry – she was avoiding him – tracking her down. She shut the door and lay down on her bed. Her head hurt. She stared at the ceiling and for once she let all that hurt and all that sadness flow through into the pupils of her eyes.

Hermione Granger, however much she chose to deny it, was quite obviously falling in love. And as she lay there, Tonks' empty bed lying opposite, she felt the boundaries of defiance wearing away. As she lay there she found that love had got the better of her.

She closed her eyes, as if in resignation and suddenly picked up her pillow and flung it across the room. It bounced off the wall beside Tonks' bed and fell deadened onto it, a victim of that love/hate emotion that has no name. And then Hermione, as if shaken by this near-violence, burst into tears.

It was all very strange, Tonks thought, standing on the other side of the door and watching through the crack. She leant forward a little.

There was a sort of scream-startled-cry-like sound and the sound of a body falling to the floor. Hermione, lost in a world of silent tears, jerked back to reality. Safety had left her in every dimension. She frowned and walked towards the door, suspecting already what she might see. She pulled the door open, and her suspicions were confirmed.

She closed her eyes and exhaled. Her tears, still damp, began to dry up a little on her cheeks. Beyond her, if only a little, Tonks pulled herself to her feet and looked guiltily at Hermione. Her eyes said sorry in a thousand different tones.

There was that moment, as there always is, when two people just stand and look at each other.

And then there was that moment, as there always should be, where one pulls the other into that kind of kiss. The kind which says Yes No Maybe all at once, which cares nothing for the world and nothing for questions. The kind that only makes sense sometimes. It made sense then.

The moment was completely illogical. Roles were reversed. Stars shifted. It was Hermione who moved in and it was Tonks who pulled away. There was that look again. The what are you doing look. The one Hermione gave Tonks gave Hermione.

Tonks pulled away as if to say stop. As if to say, this doesn't make sense. There was another look, another silence. And then she moved back in as if to say screw sense. As if to stick her middle finger up to the laws of physics and God and gravity because right now they were flying and they were weightless and it was real. And it was not possible and yet, it was.

The fire of the moment lasted for what seemed like hours. The ice upon the wound came in the form of Sirius Black.

'Hermione?'

Hermione jerked her head away from Tonks to look over the other woman's shoulder. She knew exactly what it looked like – she with her back against the wall and Tonks pressed up against her front. Tonks looked round.

'Tonks?' Sirius said, incredulously. 'What the hell is going on?'

Tonks released Hermione and turned to face Sirius.

'In there. Now,' she said, gesturing to the open door of her and Hermione's bedroom. As Sirius walked through the doorway Tonks whispered in Hermione's ear, 'Don't be afraid.'

Hermione said nothing. She didn't see how she could not be afraid. She didn't understand.

I know. It's been months. I lost inspiration with this fic and the longer I left it the harder it was to update. Don't shoot me. I'm sorry. I promise I will update more regularly now. Really! Anyway, don't flame me because I'm lazy ): but please tell me how you like it etc etc.

Also, big thanks to Emeloo2 who PMed me asking me to update (I read that about an hour ago and thought, right let's do it!) and also to Ashara and Emma who also nagged me quite a lot (and will do I guess, even though I don't think they're too keen on my odd pairings).

Bee (: