The weeks that followed the wedding were busy ones for The Order. A spate of Death Eater attacks across the country had left the wizarding world in a state of fear. The Daily Prophet, now nothing more than a propaganda tool for Voldemort reported little except to occasionally blame the larger attacks that couldn't be hidden, as random acts of Muggle Born wizard violence. Mr. Weasley reported back about high levels of paranoia amongst the Ministry staff and Hogwarts, under the rule of Professor Snape had expelled all Muggle Borns.

'We must bide our time, as Voldemort is,' Kingsley counselled as The Order gathered as a whole at the kitchen table in Grimmauld Place.

'All the horcruxes, bar Nagini and Voldemort himself have been destroyed. We must wait until he attacks and then one of us must try to finish him off.'

'It's going to be me,' Harry said, resolute and stony faced.

'It will be anyone who has the opportunity,' Kingsley corrected him. 'Now tell me,' he turned to Hermione, 'About this letter you've received?'

Hermione, still bearing bruises from a particularly nasty encounter with a Death Eater in Midas Vale cleared her throat.

'Apparently all of the recent marriages by Pure Bloods to muggle borns are to be evaluated by a ministry official...' she trailed off, her face wan and glum.

The past month had been the most horrific of her twenty-two years. Sirius, who had once been both a source of friendship and minor irritation, had morphed into an overly solicitous stranger. The night of the wedding had not been mentioned, and he now no longer teased her mercilessly – in fact he barely spoke to her. When she was not out with the Order, Hermione spent her days floating aimlessly around the cavernous rooms of Grimmauld Place, wondering if she could confide her growing fear to Sirius, and how he would react when she did.

'Evaluated how?' Kingsley cut across her thoughts and she shrugged her shoulders – she was exhausted and dealing with a much bigger worry than Dolores Umbridge.

'I don't know, apparently Sirius and I are the first to be called in. Arthur hasn't been able to find out anything from his sources, and he can't ask too much or it might look suspicious.

'Well Snape has brewed some Veritaserum for you in case Umbridge trys anything again. Sirius,' the Order leader looked across to where the younger man sat.

'You'll have to stick to every rule in proclamation 2.2. Carry Hermione's wand on your person, act like you've been dictating every spell she's cast.'

'What about priori incantatum?' Sirius questioned, shifting his large frame in the chair. He hated Order meetings – too much talking about action, not enough doing.

'I've already got it covered,' Hermione spoke to him from where she sat at the opposite end of the table. 'I've spent the last three days doing nothing but Household spells. Thanks for noticing,' she added as a dry aside and Sirius felt his lips twitch with a smile.

'I just thought Kreacher had finally remembered he had a vocation to clean,' he replied, delighted by the flash of irritation across Hermiones face.

' 'Ere,' Mundungus cackled loudly, speaking for the first time during the meeting, 'Whas' the difference between a housewife 'nd a houseelf?'

Sirius felt his face fall in horror.

'...A housewife will fu-'

'Dung,' Molly cut him off with an almighty wallop to the back of the head. 'Watch your mouth.'

An awkward silence fell across the group for a moment, and Sirius could feel Lupin staring at him intently, while Hermione pointedly avoided looking at him at all.

'I'll have a few bodies stationed in The Ministry tomorrow,' Kingsley spoke, breaking the silence. 'I 'ope we don't have use them though. We can't afford to break our cover. So look in love you two.' With a flourish of his brightly coloured robes he was gone, and the meeting was ended.

'I'm nervous,' Hermione whispered as she stood with Sirius in a second floor corridor in the Ministry the next day.

'No need to be,' he gave her hand a squeeze, and considered her pale appearance. The past month had been torturous for him. He had spent it in constant battle with his conscience and his libido – pleasantly surprised that his conscience always won, he must be growing up. He had treated Hermione with Dragon-kid gloves, afraid of upsetting her in any way, and had pointedly gone out of his way to avoid being alone with her. This marriage was one of convenience, he kept reminding himself, it wasn't meant as a vehicle for his dishonourable intentions. He closed his eyes for a second as the memory of Hermione writhing beneath him flashed across his minds eye, then opened them with a snap, as an underling of Umbridge's called them into the interview room.

'Mr. And Mrs. Black', Dolores Umbridge didn't stand as they entered, merely gestured to a pair of seats in front of her desk.

'Dolores,' biting back bile Sirius flashed a killer grin at the Minister. 'We didn't expect such a high-powered Ministry Official like yourself to be interviewing us.'

'Well the Ministry takes the matter of Blood Purity very seriously Mr. Black,' the toad like woman replied with a sickening smile. 'Now let's see how the ewly-weds are getting on?'

Dolores snapped her fingers and a ministry worker stepped forward, ' Snicktus, please take Mrs. Blacks wand from her husband to be examined'. The grim faced little man stretched out a hand to Sirius, who reluctantly handed the wand over to him, noting as he did the look of nausea on Hermione's face. The poor girl, Sirius thought as Snictus left the room, feeling his anger swell.

'So tell me Mr. Black,' Umbridge continued, barely glancing at Hermione. 'How much does blood purity mean to you?'

'Everything,' Sirius replied through gritted teeth, looking to Hermione for help, and feeling alarmed when he noticed that she still looked terribly ill.

'Really? Because word has reached the Ministry that many of the marriages that have recently taken place have been nothing more than shams. And your marriage,' Umbridge looked him up and down disparagingly,' Seems like the biggest sham of all. Why would a girl want to marry a man twice her age?'

'Because we're in love', again Sirius spoke through gritted teeth.

'Really,' Dolores laughed her high pitched giggle. 'Look at her,' she gestured to Hermione, pale and silent before her. 'She looks positively ill, not in love. Why should I believe that your marriage honours the spirit of Prolomation 2.2 – which if you remember is to ensure the continuity and purity of the Wizarding World?'

Sirius floundered for a moment, thinking of an answer, but before he could speak a soft voice cut across him.

'Because I'm pregnant,' Hermione whispered, before throwing up on the floor in front of a shocked Umbridge and Sirius.