Hermione's admission to being 'a bit of a horror' seemed to apply when arranging dinner parties as well as being sick.

She was vaguely militant about everything, from table arrangements to meat choices and had been driving Sirius mad for three days, cleaning around him and making mental lists of what she still had to do under her breath wherever she went. The eye of the storm came on the day of the party itself. After two hours of getting hit with various questions and gripes, Sirius begged her to give him a task so that he could have the blessed relief of being out from under her feet, without the guilt that he would have had if he slunk off to the pub.

"You're stressed, let me do something to help."

Mercifully she hadn't yet brought the wine, and despite her obvious reluctance to entrust any aspect to the evening to another person's care, with some gentle persuasion she handed over the list before pushing him out of the door all the while muttering that she had 'no idea why he thought she was stressed, she wasn't stressed at all', before she went back to her three lists and four oven timers.

After correctly picking up the wine and pointedly ignoring Hermione's surprised tinged thanks, Sirius went upstairs to get ready, Hermione had already made use of the bathroom while he was out, though he hadn't braved staying in her presence long enough to check out the results. He returned down the stairs not more than thirty minutes later in a smartish pair of dark jeans and a petrol blue jumper.

"Is this okay?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen, standing in place and holding his hands away from his body.

Hermione looked up from the saucepan she was frowning at, "Why are you asking?"

He stared back at her, "Isn't that what couples do? Ask the other if they think they look nice, before hosting a dinner party?"

Her hand stilled, "I suppose," she replied with a shrug though her face looked weirdly pinched. She stepped back from her position behind the kitchen island and appraised him with a softly travelling glance, "You look nice," she said at last.

He pouted. "Well, thank you for such effusive praise, how will I continue the night without blushing?"

Hermione smiled indulgently, "Sirius you know you look good, you always do, you don't need me to…" she continued, but Sirius had stopped listening, his eyes having fallen away from her face to look at her outfit. Her slim legs elongated by tapered black trousers that finished with a cuff above her ankle, her small feet in simple, but high, black pointed shoes. Her top was conservative at first glance; the flowing fabric was loose fitting with a large neck, it hung artfully off one shoulder revealing a hint of her collarbone that he liked so much. The whole look was understated and relaxed having the air of being thrown together though he knew better. There was an underlying sex appeal that winked to him, from the sparkling anklet that glistened when her leg moved to the darker hued lip gloss she had opted for.

"Sirius?"

Hermione's questioning tone pulled him from his silent cataloguing of her appearance in time to see her follow his gaze and look down. "Oh," she said with realisation. "I suppose I should follow your example, is this okay?" she asked sarcastically and Sirius shook himself, okay? Was she insane?

"You look," fucking edible, his brain supplied. "Nice," he finished, walking away, her soft laughter following his retreat to the garden for a cigarette.

"Touche," she called over her shoulder before returning to the stove.

Sirius took one last look before he closed the back door behind himself, it was going to be a long night.

When there was a knock at the door at bang on seven, Sirius sought to make himself useful and chased into the hall, dancing around a strained looking Hermione and was abundantly grateful when he pulled open the door to find Remus and Tonks were the first to arrive, well, for about three minutes.

"Hello cousin," Tonks called happily as she bounded into the corridor, unmindful of the coat stand she barged into that Remus jumped to set to rights behind her. She positively beamed at Sirius, "Where is," she paused with a wicked look on her face, "what am I calling Hermione these days?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "I don't know, maybe her name?"

"No silly," Dora replied, emulating a tone her mother would have used once upon a time, fluffy trimmings with the hint of steel underneath. "You know what I mean, your girlfriend? Your fiance? Your landlady?"

"Love," Remus interrupted, "go through and get me a wine, would you? Here, give me your coat, I'll find out where Sirius wants us to put them."

Tonks walked off with a smug look on her face, and Sirius turned on Remus in the narrow corridor, "could you keep your woman in line Moony?"

Remus snorted, "Oh because you're so in control, we could hear you running for the door you know, enjoying playing house?"

"I'll have you know..." Sirius began but was cut off by another knock, not breaking his stare with Remus he reached past him to open the door, wrenching his face away at the last minute and plastering on a polite smile at Luna and Rolf, who were side by side on the first step.

"Good evening," Luna called happily, stepping over the threshold and unceremoniously dumping a rather large, bright blue, ceramic plant pot into his hands.

Siris regarded the plant with a look of dismay, it looked… well, a little indecent if he was honest, the head itself was shaped like something a young boy might carve into a school desk. Though he could have been imagining it, that week he had inadvertently discovered Hermione's knicker draw and the twenty minutes he had spent ogling a surprising amount of black lace, and desperately sheer chiffon had been playing tricks on his mind. That was until he heard Remus attempting to suppress a childish giggle.

"Magnolia tree seed pod," Luna said serenely, "it's an excellent thing to have in the home, it aids cohabitation," she finished matter of factly.

Rolf looked down at the ethereal blonde, a man totally besotted, "that's right," he agreed wholeheartedly, "we have four in our house."

"I'll bet you do," Sirius said dryly, sharing a knowing look with Remus over the couple's shoulders, sending the werewolf into another round of poorly suppressed giggles, that he tried, somewhat successfully, to pass off as a coughing fit.

Bill and Fleur arrived soon after, and Sirius had barely opened the door before Fleur barrelled straight passed him shouting her hello's as she sped into the kitchen where Hermione was handing out drinks. The part Veela managing to secure her hostess in an enormous one-armed hug while giving a bottle, and swiping a glass off the side, all in one smooth movement. Bill shook his hand and looked passed Sirius as his wife necked at least three gulps of the wine in her glass down, managing to exude an unparalleled feminine grace even in that action.

"Ah," Bill said eventually, his hands in his pockets, "we thought we might have been pregnant again," he whispered, "though it turned out to be a false alarm."

Sirius looked back to the kitchen, Hermione had dutifully moved to refill Fleur's glass, only to have the blonde encourage her pour by placing her fingers forcefully at the end of the bottle.

"Fleur's thrilled," Bill said with a small laugh. Sirius nodded blankly wondering what he was letting himself in for.

Once Harry, Ginny, Ron and his new girlfriend had arrived, a noisy rabble that tumbled through the floo, everyone moved into the dining room. Sirius noticed Hermione was looking a bit frazzled, apparently repressing herself from asking everyone for the tenth time if they were okay. She had run her plan to have drinks in the kitchen before going into the dining room past him earlier in the day, and he had shrugged, which he immediately discovered was the wrong thing to do, aided in his revelation by the cookbook that whacked the side of his head. When she left the room to grab another bottle of fizz, he followed after her, reaching for some more glasses, and tugging on one of the curls that had dropped out of her loosely pinned hair.

"It's just dinner," he whispered, hoping that playing it down was in some way reassuring rather than dismissive of her efforts.

"I know," she affirmed, twisting the chilled bottle in her fingers, "I just wanted to everything to be perfect, we have everyone here, and it's for you and…" she trailed off averting her eyes.

Sirius gripped her chin, bringing her face up to look at him. "I've eaten at their houses, Hermione, it usually involves a lot of nodding while you wait for rampant conversation so you can dispose of the food you simply cannot fake eating, they are not going to be expecting miracles. Even if the food ends up shit we get them so drunk they'll never know the difference."

She chuckled, the tight lines of her face relaxing, "come on we better get in there."

Sirius shook out his shoulders as they moved back through the door, dogged by the uncomfortable feeling that he was walking into some battle.

It was a while before they took their seats, Sirius making good on his promised hosting skill of endeavouring to get everyone shit faced, some needing less encouragement than others. He chatted for a while with Ron, the youngest of the Weasley men had brought his latest girlfriend, Bella was a receptionist in St Mungo's and seemed nice enough, if not the sharpest tool in the shed.

As Sirius moved through the assembled group he could feel eyes on him, most of the time it was Harry, glancing his way his eyes assessing but not unfriendly, the boy's gaze more avid if he was standing next to Hermione. It put him on edge, to the point where he was almost relieved when Hermione shouted over the growing din that the starters were ready.

Conversation flowed well, for awhile at least. There were enough people around the table to support little pockets of conversation as well as points where a particularly interesting topic would come up that would engage all of them. Hermione had transfigured the table earlier in the day, so it was more square allowing for them to sit next to each other at the head, Remus and Tonks opposite them. It made Sirius a great deal more comfortable to be next to her, using the opportunity to rest a hand on her leg from time to time or shift their chairs closer, and he could exit quickly to top up the wine or help Hermione bring in the food.

But as the night wore on, and the drink flowed Sirius could to detect more than the occasional stare coming in their direction. Their non-relationship/relationship status seemed to cause a bit of discomfort amongst their friends, affecting some more than others. Tonks had tried to interject comments throughout the evening, but on the whole, they had been good natured and could be laughed off. Whenever she was too pointed in her observations Remus glared at her, though Sirius could tell he was finding it amusing. Traitor.

Fleur had made a few comments at the beginning of the night, but she was well on her way to gloriously pissed by that point, and long past the point of witty observations. As the mains were served, she had begun slurring her words a little and Bill had moved to roughly plait her hair away from her face when she started to get frustrated with finding the tips of her pale gold mane turned pink from having been dipped in her wine.

Of all the people present it seemed to be Ron's new girlfriend who looked over at them most often, though on Sirius' further inspection it was Hermione she seemed fixed on. At length, the girl rested her fork down on the table and turned to her hostess. "Hermione I was so glad we would get this chance to speak, I know that you and Ron used to date and well, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't treading on any toes," she finished primly.

The tactlessness of bringing it up at the table astounded Sirius; the girl really didn't seem to have noticed that the whole table had gone silent, Ginny's chest was practically resting in what was left of her main course as she leant to listen closer. Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Sirius was quicker. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, his fingers almost burning as he touched the exposed flesh he had been salivating over all night and looked the girl in the face with one of his most charming smiles,

"Hermione's toes, as well as the rest of her anatomy, are entirely spoken for."

"Oh!" Bella flushed dully, "I'm sorry, I didn't pick up on," her finger drifted between them. "Are you two dating then? I'm sorry I thought you were just friends who lived together."

"Yes do tell Sirius," Tonks piped up front the other end of the table, her smile broad, her hair so bright it was almost illuminating the air around her.

Fleur suddenly seemed to realise something, gasping before she slammed her elegant clutch on the table and began rifling through it. "Hang on a minute what's the date? Before the 15th? Get your galleons out fuckers, if they admit it now I win."

Sirius groaned.

"I've often thought," Luna began thoughtfully, "that only the undersexed take a keen interest in the love life of others."

Rolf nodded eagerly at her before leaning forward to kiss the dreamy blonde in a way, that although relatively sedate, hinted at a promise of what was to come when the couple got home. It made Sirius glad there weren't kids present, then he caught himself and wondered if that was the most middle-aged thought he had ever had.

"You don't win," Tonk's cut across the table, looking at Fleur who was still putting items from her bag into an unorganised heap on the table, sloshing around the wine in her glass that she seemed determined to keep hold of. "The bet wasn't if they admit it, it was for when they... You know."

"Fuck!" Ginny supplied loudly with a watery cackle and Harry glared at her, a horrified look on his face.

"Dessert anyone," Hermione started weakly, and Sirius sighed.

"I'll go," he replied, retreating into the kitchen before he flipped the table and told them all to fuck off, belatedly realising that he had left Hermione out in the fray alone, probably fielding a million questions. He was so shit at this. He gripped the edge of the worktop forcefully for a moment before he began roughly decanting the chocolate puddings onto the individual plates that Hermione had left out when slender arms wrapped around his shoulders and Hermione's perfume wafted into his consciousness.

"How long do you think it will take us to get new friends?" she asked and he smiled, the tension leaving his shoulders. He grabbed her fingers, noticing the dark red polish on the ends for the first time, and bringing them to his lips.

"Too long, though it's a happy thought right now," he let go of her hands, turning around to face her and placing his hands on her waist, adjusting his stance so she could stand between his legs. Leaning as he was, with her heels, they were almost nose to nose. "You aren't bothered?" he asked, she shrugged.

"A little," she admitted, "but I think, were the situation were reversed, we would equally excruciating, maybe even worse."

"You're probably right," he conceded, "still don't want to give them your pudding though," he muttered petulantly.

She smiled wickedly at him, "what if I let you pretend there's not one for Remus? Would that drag you out of here?"

"Oh, Hermione," he replied with a dark whisper, "you always know the right thing to say."

"I am rather attached to being right Mr Black," she responded with a wink.

After dessert was finished, and a disgruntled werewolf was finally given his pudding, another round of drinks was placed on the table Sirius excused himself to have a cigarette, Remus' following. "Truly excellent party," his friend said as the door closed behind them, "so good of you to include entertainment as well."

Sirius glared at him half-heartedly, "we aim to please."

"It's we now?" Remus taunted, and Sirius repressed the urge to slam his head against the wall.

As their light-hearted banter continued the back door opened again, and Harry walked into the garden. "Remus, can I have a word with Sirius?" Sirius instantly looked down at his cigarette, wishing there was more of it to go, he had a feeling he would need it. Moony had made a pacifying gesture before he headed back inside, hopefully, to control the rabble lest they started probing Hermione again.

His godson stood in front of him; coat slung over his shoulders, his hand came up to run the back of his neck, knocking his glasses askew. "What's this Harry? The warning chat?" Sirius inquired derisively.

Harry looked vaguely disgusted. "No, actually, we're not children, and that seems a little medieval."

"Well," Sirius said, dropping his cigarette and snuffing it out with his boot, "what is it then?"

Harry rubbed his jaw. "Look I know I wasn't all that understanding the other day, and I know you overheard our conversation with Hermione." Sirius didn't deny it. "I wanted to explain."

"Go on then," Sirius replied, leaning back against the wall.

"Hermione is one of the most important people in my life and from the way you were looking at her tonight, well, I don't have any questions anymore just an apology, so I'm sorry Sirius, it wasn't my place to get involved."

"That's it?" he asked incredulously, "problem over because you saw me making eyes at her?" Harry's teeth ground slightly, and Sirius knew he had to drop the attitude, it wasn't helping either of them. "Okay Harry, apology accepted."

"Thanks," the boy replied, "but that's only really half of it, you see it wasn't just her we were protecting." He shuffled uncomfortably fixing Sirius with a direct gaze. "She wasn't acting like herself and with the best will in the world Sirius she has a history of picking up strays."

Sirius felt like he had been punched in the stomach, the only thing worse than the little witch having no interest in him would be her taking him in out of some misplaced pity. "Harry…"

"I know that's not the case now, but I had to be sure, you're both great people, and the longer I think about it, the more sense it makes. But Luna was right the other day, you're both all in and I… I was worried."

Sirius nodded a bit stiffly still not massively happy, and Harry stepped forward to put a hand on his arm. "Come on Sirius if you thought one of us was making a mistake," he tensed, and Harry noticed it, his tone softening "even if you turned out to be wrong, you would say something."

"I suppose," Sirius conceded.

"That's the thing about our lot, in case you haven't realised it yet, we're a family, you get the best and worst parts. People always on your side, but right up in your business as well."

After seeing Remus and Tonks out, swearing at his cousin when she cooed how 'they must do this again sometime' Sirius walked back into the kitchen expecting to find Hermione washing up, except the kitchen was empty. He scanned the room and noticed the back door was slightly ajar.

In the small, neat garden she was sat on one of the simple wooden benches looking up at the stars, wrapped in his leather jacket. He didn't bother to announce himself, the crunch of the grass giving him away as he approached her, settling down next to her as she continued to look heavenward.

"I suppose I should admit I pilfered this now that you live here," she muttered.

Sirius yawned, stretching out to pull her against him, "I already knew."

"Of course you did" she replied. "Was that the unmitigated disaster I think it was?"

"No I don't think so," he said, as her fingers came out from the edge of the jacket, fiddling the sleeve of his jumper.

"No?"

"I wouldn't have called it unmitigated; you made a perfectly serviceable white sauce."

"Arse," she laughed out, pinching his wrist.

"It was odd," he said finally, leaning his head against her fluffy curls.

"How so?"

"I went to so many of those things back when we first left Hogwarts, Lily and James got the house together and wanted to try and do grown up things. I always went with someone, but it was never really anything committed, or Moony and I would just go together, not bothering to find some bird. Sorry," he said, shaking himself from his amble down memory lane, "I must go on about that period all the time."

She shook her head, "it's nice, I like hearing about when you were happy."

Sirius smiled, "it's not just limited to then you know, me being happy."

"I would hope not; you're proving to be a pretty useful co-host, though I'm not sure Bill will ever let you go near Fleur again with a bottle of wine."

"Excuse me, she was pretty determined to get drunk on her own, I only filled the empties, she was in charge of how often that glass needed refilling," he protested.

"A likely story," Hermione teased.

"Anyway, as I was saying," he continued with a warning grip, "it was different tonight, being there with a someone."

"Yeah, for me too."

A/N thank you for all of your lovely reviews and adds to lists!