Authors Note: There is absolutely no reason why I haven't posted for so so long except that I was facing one of the worse writers block ever. Anyway I hope you like this small but at-last finished chapter.

One Week, three days later.

The whole gang was walking to the Gryffindor Common Room; Hermione silently walking the in front next to Remus when she saw him. Severus was standing on the wall opposite to the Fat Lady having a conversation with her, his hands deep in his pockets with an ease she envied.

He pushed himself off the wall, bowed at the Fat Lady as she smiled down at him in delight and walked towards her when he saw her. She smiled at him as felt everyone around her stiffen caution. She could almost see what would happen next, having being in this type of situation with Harry and Ron versus Draco, she immediately stepped forward before 'words' could exchange.

"Easy guys, he wants to talk to me." She said walking towards him. She saw his eyes flicker to Lily so quickly that she would have missed it if she saw staring at his eyes and then back to her.

"Yes?" She asked him her smile almost uncontrollable as she nodded to him.

"Yes." He said his face blank as ever.

She couldn't stop herself. She threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around him as she jumped in excitement. He stiffened at her touch then relaxing just a bit he patted at twice to her head like a pet and then stepped away.

"Here." She searched her bag which she took it everywhere and pulled out a coin which she had given to James, Remus and Sirius; the same one she had used in the DA and pressed it into his palm shielding this movement by her body. He studied the coin with interest that was only shown by a flick of his eyebrow and then in vanished into his pocket.

"You will know how to use it when the time comes." She told not wanting to get into it with the others hovering behind her as they tried their hardest to catch every word spoken between the two of them. He nodded in understanding and looked at her and then back to the group for a second longer and then left down the dark hallway making his way to the Slytherin common room.

She saw him walk away and then turned to face them. "Let's go inside the Common Room, it's almost curfew; come on." She said and followed Dorcas in, trying to pass off the 'talk' that was coming her way but wasn't quite successful. She rushed forward aiming the single worn out chair next to the sofa but James cut her off, holding her arm in a firm grip as he re-directed her to the sofa where Sirius and Remus were already making themselves comfortable.

Pushing away the feeling to sulk and the irritation she felt with the situation; she sat between them as the others settled. Lily was the one to talk first as she asked her "What in the world was that?"

"Nothing." She said as she tried to ignore the others. Instead she stared deep into the fireplace, at the burning logs.

"That wasn't nothing." Dorcas said now her eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"That was none of your business." She said sharply, which was followed by a brief silence. She felt guilt niggle at her at her response but she didn't do anything about and ordered herself to keep quite.

"So you are friends with him." Alice said breaking the awkward silence.

A smile crossed her lips as she thought about Severus as her friend and said with a defiant glance to all of them "Yes I am."

"Sirius I just can't tell him to stop hanging out with me." Hermione said in harsh whisper behind one of the book shelves of the library; Remus sitting on one of the benches waiting for her.

She had excused herself and had been searching for a book pertaining to The Transfiguration of a Non-living to a Living Being when someone had clamped one hand over her mouth from yelling and the other one around her waist and snatched her few feet away from Remus.

"It's me." The 'someone' whispered in her ear as she tried to struggle out of his hold with her hand creeping near to her wand.

Sirius let her go and Hermione whirled to face him. "What the hell are you doing!" she hissed.

"Keeping you from screaming or talking aloud so Remus doesn't know about it, he has unusually sharp hearing." Sirius groaned and rubbed his shins where she had kicked him during the struggle. "Was that really necessary?"

"Yes I always welcome my kidnappers with a hello and a smile. You're lucky I didn't have my wand out," she snarled. "Don't DO that!"

"Well, excuse me, but I wanted to talk to you."

"And you couldn't get my attention the normal way?" She asked him glaring at him.

"I didn't want Remus to know about this conversation."

"So search me out when I am not with him, what do you want, Sirius? And why aren't you at Quidditch practice?" She asked him as she sighed.

"I slipped out in the middle of it." He said which brought her irritation to a stop. She knew how much Quidditch meant to him and for him to miss it, it had to be important.

She relented and asked him, "Okay, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"You always seem to be the one with the answers, tell me what can I do or anybody can do so Remus can start speaking to us like he used to again. After his parent's death, he hasn't been the same."

"You can't expect him to the same as before, Sirius." She told him softly looking at him.

"I don't expect him to be either..." he said quickly then continued "just more open… he rarely speaks to any of us anymore, he just coops in here. It almost feels as though he is avoiding us."

"Sirius, everyone has a different coping time. He will come around once he is ready, you push him about it and he may withdraw more into himself…" She trailed away when his body neared hers trapping her between him and the bookcase and his hands caging her in.

"What are you doing?" She asked him in a whisper looking at him suspiciously when he angled his head to her neck.

"Smelling you, you smell of vanilla and old books." He muttered, his eyes closed taking a deep breath, grazing his nose lightly on the curve on her arched neck as her hair tickled his nose lightly and then backed away as thought coming into his senses; he opened his eyes and looked her breath coming in puffs, pink cheeks, slightly glazed eyes but with a frown between her eyebrows. He stepped back and felt his neck burn in embarrassment as he looked at anywhere but her.

He cleared his throat and said "Anyway, Thanks for the advice." He said quickly smiling at her and then jogged out of the library. Hermione stood still as she fingered her neck where his nose had brushed her skin, shivering slightly she shook her head. She stood there until her breath came under control and then made her way towards Remus.

"What took you so long?" He asked her when she sat opposite to him.

"I ran into Severus and we were discussing about the potion we made yesterday." She said quickly making it up.

He shook his head and said "I will never understand your friendship with him."

She shrugged but kept quiet about it not wanting to get into 'it'. She kept quite trying to ignore the silent question in his eyes when she sighed and looked up at him. "Look there are many things I don't know about you and the same goes with me, so why don't we just drop it? Please." She said when he kept quiet.

After a long look of consideration he nodded and turned back to his books.

They kept at their books in silence for a time when Hermione spoke again, this time hesitantly. "They are worried about you." She said keeping her eyes on the book as she heard the quill scratching on the parchment pause.

She waited the silence out until he finally sighed and said "So that's what Sirius wanted to talk to you about."

She looked at him with surprise but he just shrugged in response. Shaking her head she chuckled and laid her hand on his forearm "I know you feel that you don't deserve the happiness and friendship because they are dead, but you are wrong. Just think about it and tell me: would your parents really want you to cut off everyone you know, especially James and Sirius who are like your brothers?"

He simply nodded and went back to this Charms assignment. She looked at him and saw the fatigue on his face, paler than usual which bought out the scars cutting across his face, light circles under his eyes. And that's when she realized the next full moon was in nine days.

He needs them more than he realizes. She thought to herself and she went looking for the potions book from which she could brew the Wolfsbane potion for him.

For the past few days Hermione had a nagging feeling that she was forgetting something, something that is very important and that it had the power to change some parts - important parts of the future and it all came back to her when she saw Regulus talking with Lestrange. She was walking towards breakfast with the others in tow when she saw him and gasped aloud in shock.

"Fuck!" she said swore aloud and groaned in frustration. Stupid, stupid, stupid… how could she have forgotten about it, about him!

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked pulling her closer to him.

She looked at him and the guilt doubled; she bit her lip and shook her head in disgust towards herself. "Are you hurt?" He asked again pulling her out of the Great Hall as the others sat down for breakfast.

"No, I just remembered something immensely important I had forgotten about."

"Oh! Something I can help you with?" He asked as he tucked his hands deep into his pockets.

"No, it's something I have to do on my own." She said, then quickly added when she saw his dejected expression "Thanks for asking though; it was nice of you to ask." And giving him a smile she made her way back to the Great Hall already formulating a plan on how she can get Regulus alone.

It had taken Hermione two days to finally corner him. The first two times she had tried, he was always seen with the other Slytherins/Death Eaters in the making. And after that it seemed that whenever he would see her or she would be in-calling distance of him he would just disappear and run away. After a few tries Hermione understood what was happening and pursued another technique. The next day during Quidditch practice she waited under the benches keeping an eye out for him and the moment when everyone dispersed, she waited until everyone was out of sight and then petrified him and quickly used the Disillusionment Charm to make him invisible.

She ran towards him from under the benches and then pulled him again under their, with him floating behind her. She let him drop with a satisfying 'Thud' on the ground and removed the Disillusionment Charm but kept him petrified. Trying to keep her guilt and frustration in check, she took a few breathes and walked for a few minutes. Once she had in under control she turned towards and him and stood in front of him, his eyes on her.

"I am sorry." She said with a hiss of air, looking deep into his eyes. She bent down and pulled him in sitting position so they were eye to eye.

"I am so, so sorry." She repeated again and again never looking away from him and then freed him from the spell.

He didn't move but just stayed their keeling in front of her. He looked at her and then sighed; squeezing her hand once he let in drop and said "It's okay. It would have happened eventually, it was just a matter of days."

"But still after I spoke to you, stuff started coming up, one thing after another and soon I lost track of time and when I finally had everything else under control I saw you talking to Lestrange… and I was too late. Regulus, I am so sorry." She said her hands tugging at her hair.

"I understand." He said giving her a smile as he shifted to sit cross legged. She looked at him in wonder and smiled back now with relief.

"Thanks, anyway I have a plan B." She said now all business.

"There is a plan B?"

"There is always a plan B. But first before I get into it, you have to know that it will involve your brother in it too and second, before I tell you, you have to promise me that you are not going to repeat this to anyone else until I tell you otherwise."

He took a few seconds to think about it and then he nodded in agreement. She smiled at him and told him all about the Order and then she told him about Severus and his part in all of this and also how Sirius, James and Remus have taken an oath to join. "Now I am telling you what I told Severus when I explained it to him about this 'I know this is a huge decision so take your time and think about it'." She told him and then got up to get out of their when Regulus reached out to her.

"I don't need to think about it, I already know the answer." He said calmly and then nodded as his agreement. She smiled at him in pleasure and moved to hug him then muttered the same spell Dumbledore had given her so he wouldn't be able to speak of this to anyone else. And then gave him the coin.

Hermione's Journal:

Recruitment for The Order:

Me

Severus – 24/11/1977

Sirius

Remus

James

Regulus - 29/11/1977

R&R

R&R