Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any sort of profit from this hobby.

Author's note:

1. I feel like a clutz, but a couple of days ago when I edited some of the earlier chapters of this story, I managed to mess up the whole beginning. I therefore took the opportunity to clean up the whole text and assemble the early, too-short chapters into longer text segments.

Nothing has changed but for the number of chapters.

2. Beta work by Beatlechicksteph, I owe her soo much!

Chapter 10

The first thing to happen when they entered the room on top of the scruffy bar was a wand being pointed straight at Hermione's face. She registered a voice shouting "Incarcerous!", and could see heavy ropes flying at her from the other side of the room. Without thinking, she drew her own wand and deflected the oncoming curse, turning the ropes into black, gritty smoke that filled the air. The shock of the attack took her so by surprise that her heart threatened to burst in her chest.

"What-the-hell?" she hissed furiously as the smoke trailed away, aiming her wand directly at Moody, who stood by the other wall giving her a dark look. He took a step closer to her, his wand still out.

"Alastor!" shouted Minerva McGonagall horrified. Several others in the room had also cried out in surprise and was now curiously observing the scene in front of them.

Alastor Moody didn't answer, but kept watching Hermione with a furrowed brow. After a few moments glaring between the two, he lowered his arm and straightened his back.

"Just testing your reflexes, girl!" he growled. "Wanted to see if that display you put up for show yesterday was only a fluke."

Hermione's hair was almost crackling due to the tension. She gritted her teeth, feeling her pulse in her head. But she knew Moody. He had been even more paranoid in his later years, and she knew he was only looking out for the best of the organization. She looked deep into his eyes – still feeling oddly uncomfortable with the lack of the magical one – and then nodded courtly, putting her wand away.

"Well then, Dumbledore," Moody said, seating himself at the big table that hadn't been there the last time. "I believe we might have underestimated your new ward. I daresay she could give quite a few of us a run for our money."

Dumbledore beamed at his old friend. "Right so, Alastor. It is always such a useful lesson to remember, appearances aren't always what they seem."

He clapped his hands together, motioning for the people present to take a seat. Not everyone who had been there for the first meeting had been able to attend this time, but there were also a few new faces. Hermione was pleased to see both Hestia Jones and Elphias Doge present. As they both had positions at the ministry, this would work well in the Order's favor.

Dumbledore spoke: "As you all know by now, yesterday's attack on Hogsmeade didn't actually go down as the they had hoped. The fact that the whole thing ended in the imprisonment of four Death Eaters is probably to be considered a great victory for our side, despite the unfortunate injured and killed bystanders. If they had been allowed to get even deeper into the village, no one knows how many more would have been hurt."

Hermione felt the other's eyes on her, but sat quietly and waited for Dumbledore to continue.

"Do we know what they were after?" asked Fabian Prewett. He'd come without his brother this time.

"I think we can confirm this one quite easily, I'm afraid. We already know Tom is – for want of a better word – collecting poeple, persons with certain talents. We have recieved information that tells us that Hogwarts' Potions Professor, Horace Slughorn is likely to be on the Death Eaters' list."

There were nods around the table, and confirming murmurs between the Order members. Horace Slughorn's competence with potions was well known among the wizarding society, and it wasn't hard to imagine why Voldemort would want him in his ranks.

"I had of course taken certain precautions to see to it that Horace would stay safely in the castle during this weekend, but as seen, it didn't go as I planned."

"I for one, would like to know where old Slughorn's loyalties lay," said Caradoc Dearborn gruffly, causing stirs of agreement among the others.

"Yes," Dumbledore sighed a little. "We are in a bit of trouble with this one. Horace is indeed the acting Head of Slytherin. The position holds, in itself, a legacy that would have anyone doubt his true intentions, but he is – to my experiences – also too much of a Slytherin to want to sacrifice himself for any dark lord. Horace looks after Horace's skin, and he does it well."

"It would be a bad day if You-Know-Who got his hands on the country's greatest Potion's Master. But I take it it's no good telling him that You-Know-Who is trying to get hold of him, then?" said Caradoc.

"I fear a statement like that would make him all too aware that a group like this has been formed," Dumbledore said. "And I don't think he would ever swear loyalty to the Order either. Bit of a pickle, this," he mused.

"This attack was planned," Fabian added. "Someone saw to it that Slughorn would be down in the village, away from the castle's protections. Are we sure about the teachers, Dumbledore?"

Hermione decided to step in.

"I wouldn't worry about the staff," she said, and catching McGonagall's eyes, she knew the woman agreed with her. Dumbledore and McGonagall had earlier gone through all the teaching staff thoroughly. "Not when we know for a fact that there are children of Death Eaters walking the hallways."

"Students you mean?" said Moody, and she felt his eyes almost burying themselves in her head when she turned to look at him. He's trying to read my mind! she realized with a pang. Her mind's walls were already up of course, and she watched him frown. Still suspicious then, Moody, she thought with an inward smirk. Good for you.

Out loud, she said. "Yes. I bet he has realized they are getting into places he can't. He won't send in their parents during the school year, for fear that Dumbledore will suspect something. It would look all too suspicious to have them visiting during the term."

"Are we really to believe he'll be using kids? I find that most unlikely," said Marlene McKinnan, frowning.

"This is war," Hermione retorted, a cold edge to her voice. "Of course we can't rule it out just because it seems immoral to us."

Unexpectedly, Moody came to her aid. "Miss Granger is right." He glanced at her and she felt bemused by the fact that he was taking her side. "What I'd like to know," he continued "is if we have any intelligence as to who these students might be?"

Meanwhile, back at Hogwarts, Lucius Malfoy really wanted to smash his head into his own desk. Being Head Boy meant having his own room, and thus made it possible for him to recieve letters not meant for others to see, at all hours. The owl that just arrived for him was a black familiar, who didn't spare him a look after having dropped the envelope off. It was his father's bird, of course, and when he'd read the short message, he almost wanted to jump out the window and strangle it, just so it wouldn't be able to disturb him any more.

The gist of the letter was that Abraxas Malfoy was very pleased with the way Lucius had managed to get Horace Slughorn to head out of the castle unprotected. The Dark Lord had been furious by the fact that four of his Death Eaters had been arrested, but no blame had been directed at the Malfoys who all in all had played their parts in an expected way, so 'all was well'. Children's power plays…, Lucius thought, quite disgusted with the whole thing.

Lucius had done what was asked of him, and done it well, without his Head of House ever suspecting something being amiss. Ever since the first attacks started a couple of weeks ago, Dumbledore had forbidden any staff members to go off grounds unless it was as an organized event. Slughorn, who usually enjoyed his many trips down to the bars and stores in Hogsmeade, had been ever so disappointed to realize that a committee of Ministry officials would be coming to Hogwarts to ask his advice about several upcoming decrees, as this was the same Saturday that was a scheduled Hogsmeade weekend.

Once Lucius had suggested that Slughorn might try using one of his many famous contacts to get out of the Ministry meeting, the man had done the rest of the work himself.

And now he had to come up with something new. Imbeciles! Not even being able to get passed some chit of a girl and her sidekicks. As most people had been hiding during the fighting, and weren't at all aware of how they'd been saved by the fucking Gryffindor princess, there wasn't much talk about her among the students. But Lucius had watched it all from up the hill.

He had to do something about her.

And he knew exactly how.

The Order meeting had gone on for hours. Plans had been made, forms had been drawn up and people's positions had been moved about. Both Hermione and Dumbledore had earlier agreed to the fact that there still wasn't time to spill the beans about the horcruxes just yet. But they all seemed to grow as a group and the collected skills and dexterities among the members were put out in the light for inspection. It was obvious that actual figthing skills was something that needed to be addressed sooner rather than later.

When Hermione at last crept along the dark passageway and out into the corridors of the school, it was well after midnight. She felt exhausted, having given a demonstration of the principles of two-wand fighting for Moody. His knowledge of Occlumency made it possible to describe to him what she had been doing during the Hogsmeade attack, and she felt somewhat flustered when the experienced Auror actually showed genuine interest, even lending her his wand. It seemed that once she'd gained his trust, he was prepared to reluctantly give her a chance. But it had also made her dead tired again, using her Occlumency so soon after having emptied her magic levels completely. Those training sessions couldn't start soon enough if she had something to say about it.

The Fat Lady wasn't at all happy to be woken at such a time, but the portrait grudgingly swung forward, letting Hermione into the dark Gryffindor common room. She set straight out for the stairs up to the dormitories, but didn't realize until she was halfway through the circular room, that it wasn't as empty as she'd thought at first glance. In the sofa nearest the big fireplace, Sirius Black lounged. He had put his feet up on the low table and had his hands in the front pockets of the muggle jeans he wore. There was an unreadable look on his face.

Hermione's stomach made a flip when she noticed him. She hesitantly stopped and bit her lip, looking at him.

"Hi," she said.

Sirius didn't answer. His dark eyes bore into her's with such an intensity that she could have sworn he'd tried to read her thoughts, if it wasn't for the fact that she knew that he… well… couldn't.

She hesitantly started towards him, crossing between the furniture and went to sit down beside him on the sofa. Sirius tilted his head a little her way, and then gave her a small smile of sorts.

"I think we need to talk," he said, seriously.

Hermione nodded and sighed. She looked down at her hands, wondering how the bloody hell she could get out of this one. Problem was, she actually didn't want to. Part of her wanted to tell Sirius everything, every little detail of a future she did all in her power to change. She knew he was more than trustworthy, that he would go through fire and lay down his life for his friends, but the problem was still Peter. Hermione had no idea what to do with him, and as he was a part of the tight knit group of boys, they wouldn't exclude him from this greatest of secrets.

"Are you okay?" he asked suddenly. "You've been out for more than a day. Pomfrey just told us your body needed sleep."

"I'm fine, just a little spent" she said and looked up, giving him a small smile.

"Well then… Care to tell me what all that was about? You acted like you've done it tons of times before."

Hermione grimaced. "You saw my scar. I've fought people before."

"But this was madness, going up against them all by yourself!"

"Yeah…" she admitted. "But the alternative would have been worse."

They sat in silence for a while. A few embers still glowed among the black coals in the grate, giving every outline in the room a slight tint of darkest red. Hermione watched the gloomy reflections dance in Sirius' black hair. It fell in his eyes as he sat looking down at his propped up feet, and strangely enough, she wanted to reach out and touch it, sweep it aside. She shook her head slightly to get a hold of herself.

Sirius turned his head and glanced at her. "There's something else," he said.

Now there was a hint of danger in his silken voice. Hermione shivered.

"You told me to go… fast." It wasn't a question. He'd already figured out that she knew about his animagus abilities. He didn't know how, but that wasn't the most important point here. She could see that he was trying to work out if she knew about the others too, without giving away too much if she didn't. It almost broke her heart seeing the aura of fierce loyalty surrounding him where he sat, so protective of his friends.

"Yes," she admitted, and added in a low voice: "Four legs usually run faster than two."

Silence.

Then: "How?"

He surely doesn't waste words, she thought, grimacing inwardly.

"I have eyes," she said, pulling her feet up under her and changing to a more comfortable position. She played with a length of her hair, wondering how much to give away.

"I recognize the signs."

He didn't answer this, but kept watching her. It was like a game of chess. Neither of them wanted to tell too much without getting to know how much the other one already knew, or at least guessed at.

The fire crackled and a blackened log momentarily burst into flames, flashing the room in hues of orange and red, then died down again, letting the darkness back once more.

Hermione knew he wasn't satisfied with her answer, and she felt a little troubled as she chew her lower lip. She tilted her head down, hiding her face behind the curtains of her hair, trying to think. None of this was easy.

"I…," she began, and was suddenly startled as she felt his fingers on her cheek. She hastily looked up and blushed as he tucked her hair in behind her ear.

"We can't talk properly if I can't see you," he said in a low voice.

Hermione's mouth felt dry. She hadn't really noticed how close they sat, and how intimate the situation felt with only them in the usually so crowded room.

She swallowed and looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Sirius. There are things I wish I could tell you, more than anything, but it's just not possible."

To her dismay, she felt her voice break a little at the end. She was so bloody tired of crying, but she also felt exhausted. Her body made all the decisions as to how to behave right now.

Sirius didn't say anything. Hermione was glad he didn't shout, or rave madly about it all, but the silences were about as stressful. She knew too well he was an impulsive hot-head, but he was also very intelligent when he allowed for it to shine through his usually so arrogant posture.

And he just didn't let things go.

"There's more," he continued, mercilessly. Hermione could sense his thoughts working behind his eyes, as he contemplated for a second how to come out with his next point.

"Something's up, isn't it? With Dumbledore, and McGonagall. All three of you left the school earlier, and didn't come back until just now."

This confused Hermione for a second, as they all had been cloaked the whole time. Then she got it.

The map.

The stupid, bloody map that didn't care that people were trying to do things unseen, in private. She resisted throwing an irritated glare his way, and instead breathed out hard. Oh, how she wanted to own up to the fact the she knew all about their stupid spy tool and call him on it.

No use denying it, though. Especially since he'd just caught her coming in so late.

"I can't tell you," she insisted, looking him straight in the eyes. But for good measure, she decide to pressure him a little. She narrowed her eyes, and said: "But how did you know? No one should have been able to see us."

Sirius gave her a long look that clearly stated 'you have your secrets, I have mine', and then unexpectedly smirked a little.

"It seems like we've reached an impasse," he said with almost a laugh and then leaned back, streching his arms out.

"Seems so," Hermione agreed, a little bitterly.

All curled up, she rested the side of her head against the back of the sofa, yawning. Her brain felt like mush and she wondered if she'd make it up to her bed.

Sirius, still smirking said: "You are a total mystery, love."

And there was the blushing again. Hermione was glad for the darkness in the room, especially when Sirius turned her way and then slowly reached out and took her left hand in both of his. Light as a feather, he stroke her palm, played with her fingers. It was pure pleasure, the touch of his skin against her's, and she almost sighed with contentment. She couldn't help but close her eyes where she sat, and just feel relaxed and safe.

Sirius said something.

Hermione fought against heavy eyelids, mumbling a raspy: "What?"

He chuckled. "You're sleeping."

"Am not," she muttered, but was clearly out of it.

"Stubborn witch," Sirius retorted amusedly.

He sat up a little, pondering what to do. The Marauders' one big failure was the fact that they'd never managed to get pass the charm that prevented boys from entering the stairs up to the girl's dormitory, so he couldn't carry her up. But he also didn't want to leave her all alone down here. He took one long look at the tired girl and then got up to retrieve a large wool blanket from a nearby armchair. When he'd seated himself once more, he threw the blanket over both of them and streched out his legs on top of the low table in front of the sofa, making himself comfortable.

Who ever said he wasn't a gentleman?

Hermione woke at dawn. She couldn't remember when she last had the luxury to sleep in, but her inner clock clearly didn't want her to miss her Monday morning classes. As she regained most of her conciousness, she became aware of someone beside her, and that she was lying on that someone's shoulder.

Oh…

Sirius.

She blinked slowly, trying to get her bearings. He had both his arms around her, holding her near him. Sirius was apparently deeply asleep, and Hermione, in her confused state, felt a whole bunch of ambivalent feelings stirring.

This was nice, very nice.

Bad idea…

But he was warm and safe and it felt so natural resting in his arms.

And his face was just inches from her's…

She didn't want to move from his embrace. Not really remembering why they were still down in the common room, she stayed where she was for the moment. She tried her best to get her head on straight, while not waking him up.

But he stirred, and then she heard a low: "Good morning." Sirius' voice was rough with sleepiness, and she could see him blinking slowly. Hermione's heart leapt when he turned his head a little to watch her. If he was surprised by their closeness, he didn't show it. She marvelled at the serene smile he gave her. Unexpectedly, he then hugged her tighter to him for a moment, burying his face in her hair.

"I remember why we usually prefer beds for sleeping," he mumbled into her soft locks, trying to stifle a yawn. Then he released her from his arms, sat up and started to strech out his stiff legs.

Hermione sat up too, not really knowing what to say.

"I fell asleep down here?" she asked, a bit dishevelled.

"That you did," said Sirius.

"And you stayed?"

"That I did," he answered, grinning, massaging his neck.

Hermione thought she'd never seen a more adorable version of Sirius Black, in a wrinkly shirt and messy hair. She couldn't help but smile a little shyly.

"Thank you," she said.

"Didn't know you would latch yourself onto me like that during the night, though," he teased, enjoying the embarrassed blush he got out of it.

Sirius smiled. In truth, he hadn't noticed them snuggling together in their sleep, but didn't mind the least to wake up with Hermione in his arms. The girl was something else. There and then, he decided to not settle for a 'no' from her in the future, wondering why she was so set upon keeping him at a distance when at the same time he could sense her attraction to him. A mystery all over, this one.

Hermione got up and checked her watch. She threw him a look over her shoulder. "There's still time for another hour of sleep before breakfast," she said as she started towards the stairs.

"Great idea," Sirius retorted, also getting up. "Your bed or mine?" He gave her such an exaggeratedly smouldering look that Hermione couldn't help but laugh.

"It's too early for clever comebacks," she said. "See you later, Sirius."

He watched her disappear up the stairs to the girls' dormitories and felt sure he would do his best to learn her secrets.

Hermione had expected to be treated with reluctance by the marauder boys during the next couple of days, due to her handling of the whole fighting incident, but nothing really seemed out of the ordinary. This made her wonder what Sirius had told them about their talk that night. She suspected he at least had kept quiet about them falling asleep in the common room, as none of the others gave the two of them a hard time about it.

Should make things easier. Or something.

None of them had discussed what had happened, and she tried avoiding him when possible. Hermione still felt flustered, though, when thinking back to the warmth of his skin, and how he had hugged her so tightly before letting go. He really was something else…

The attack on Hogsmeade had caused a surge of new security matters at Hogwarts, and no one was even allowed to go out into the grounds anymore, if it wasn't to attend classes in the greenhouses. In truth, this didn't seem like such a problem for most students, since the snow that had begun to fall during that eventful Saturday, never really stopped. By Thursday next, mid-November had turned into full blown winter, and the castle corridors were freezingly cold. Many took it upon them to wear scarves and knitted hats between classes and during meals, and it was really only warm enough in each of the houses own common rooms.

This particular morning had started like so many others; breakfast, grumbling complaints about the cold, and owl post. Since the attack, the amount of mail seemed to have tripled, as worried parents wrote to their children daily, urging them to keep safe.

Warming her hands on a cup of hot tea, Hermione silently watched as the huge amount of letters found their respective owners. Lily Evans had at first hoped that her parents, muggles as they were, wouldn't have found out about the horrible incident. But it had been clear that they too had read the Daily Prophet, as Lily was showered with letters from home during the days that followed.

"I don't know what they expect me to do," she complained, skimming through her mail. "It's not as if I'm going to go out there screaming 'Hey, here I am, come and get me', right?"

At this outburst, both Lydia and Jenny glanced at Hermione who sat opposite them. The fact that she had done almost exactly that, was something they'd all tried to discuss with her, but just as during the talk with Sirius, Hermione only told them she didn't want to and couldn't talk any more about herself, and that was that.

She was relieved when she found out that almost no others were aware of their, and especially her, involvment in the capture of the Death Eaters. Remus and – and this had surprised her – Peter, had done their best to get people to stay put and hide, running between several shops and cafés, seeing to it. And Alastor Moody had been able to keep the lid on all the details concerning the arrests, so the papers hadn't published any other version than that which said the Aurors had done all the work.

Hermione didn't mind at all. She really could do without the attention.

Back at the breakfast table, Hermione watched Sirius, as he sat among his closest friends. He was getting targeted by an owl too, and she found this a little strange. Mrs. Black wasn't one for sentiments, she knew, and she'd never seen him get any other mail since the school had started. Hermione had a sudden feeling of almost absurd dread, as she watched Sirius scanning through his letter, unknowingly moving his lips as he read the words.

He crumpled up the piece of paper and dropped it on the table.

Oh no.

Sirius Black had turned white in the face and anger blazed from his dark eyes as he slowly got up. The words he muttered through gritted teeth turned into furious shouts in a matter of seconds.

"I can't believe.. Fucking, stupid old she-beast! The bloody bint should hang!"

His raving yells rang across the Gryffindor table, and the other marauders seemed as confused as everyone else.

"Padfoot, what's the matter?"

"Hey, Siri, where are you going?"

Concern could be heard in their voices, and James hurriedly picked up the dropped letter, smoothed it out and read through the first few sentences.

"Oh, no!" he whispered to Remus and Peter. "We have to stop him!" James got up and actually climbed over the table, in a hurry to get to his friend.

Sirius had drawn his wand, and was purposefully heading towards the Slytherin table on the opposite side of the Great Hall. He had made it half way when James caught up with him, taking a firm grip on his arm. By now, almost every eye in the room were upon the two boys, and some of the teachers had started to take a notice too. Several Slytherins who'd sensed trouble, stood up from the breakfast table with their wands drawn, watching the scene intently.

Sirius tried to shake off his friend, looking absolutely mad with rage. Hermione weren't able to catch James' frantic whispers, but she and everyone else in the hall, could clearly hear Sirius' answer.

"I am bloody well going to kill him!" he yelled. "Snotty bastard not knowing what's best for him…"

His next words were silenced by Remus' firm hand over his mouth. Even with the werewolf's added strength, the two boys had a hard time containing their friend. Just as they slowly began dragging him backwards towards the doors, he managed one last outburst of absolute fury.

It was probably lucky that Remus had taken Sirius' wand from him, because the young, handsome, dark haired Slytherin who'd watched his brother's actions without moving an eyebrow, actually paled slightly at the words directed to him.

"Regulus, you better not cross me ever again! I don't want anything to do with you, nor with the rest of the fucking Black family! Go tell your…"

The tall oak doors slamming shut drowned the rest of his words, leaving the students in the Great Hall in stunned silence.

Author's End Note: Aw, a snuggly wuggly moment like that one, and no kissing? Am I that evil? Apparently so…