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Her parents were more understanding than she could have ever hoped.

Their only daughter had left them to join a war that they knew little about and that they would never be able to fully understand only to return to them six months later, eighteen years old, pregnant and distraught.

They welcomed her with open arms, held her while she cried and whispered words of comfort as best they could.

Sirius had come the day after she arrived.

Her departure from Grimmauld Place had been such a hurricane of disaster that she had been forced to leave all her belongings behind apart from the clothes she had pulled over her wet skin.

Remus had barged down the hallways right on her heels as she had fled to her room from Sirius'...

"Remus let go of me," she shook off his hold on her wrist so she could open her door.

She tried to push the door closed behind her but he wouldn't allow it.

"Remus, get out!"

He ignored her plea as he barged in and pushed the door shut, throwing a locking charm behind him.

She heard the dull 'THUD' that signaled Sirius' unsuccessful attempt to follow.

Not wasting a second she turned her back on him as with a wave of her wand clean clothes came flying to her fingertips.

She pulled on the yellow sweater without bothering about a bra and snaked on a pair of knickers before pulling on the soft cotton pants that she had taken to wearing during her pregnancy.

She cursed sending Sirius earlier to get her clothes as she couldn't find a jumper to pull over her rounded stomach which the sweater stubbornly clung to.

Remus hadn't muttered a word since she had dropped the towel but now as she waved her wand over her damp hair and bent over the cupboard to pull out a large suitcase he jumped to action.

"Hermione, please, please just listen to me ..." his voice was shaky and she could tell he was crying without seeing the tears that rolled down his face.

"Don't leave me..." he begged, covering her hand that rested on the suitcase handle with his larger one.

Her skin burnt with his touch and her only wish was to sink back into the chest that she knew stood bare centimeters away from her.

But he was more than married now, he was having a child.

What right did she have to one woman's husband, one of her closets female friends' husband, to take away a child's father just because she too carried his babe.

She would not be the one to cause the kind of heartbreak that racked her everyday to someone else, whom had done no wrong.

She dropped the suitcase, freeing her hand from his grasp before she could change her mind.

She whispered the charm to unlock the door and quickly left the room.

Sirius jumped as the door opened in front of him but Hermione didn't stop as she raced down the hallway.

She flew down the staircase, closing her eyes to the tears that were finally making their escape. She wasn't watching where she was going and was stopped when she ran head-on into a warm chest.

Gentle hands on her shoulders stopped her from falling but she knew who it was before she opened her eyes.

It was the feel of Harry's gentle hands on her stomach that startled her more.

"Hermione?" He looked past her shoulder as he heard the rumble of her entourage making their way noisily down the stairs.

She cupped a hand to his face as her eyes held his.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before."

And just as the two men fought their way into the hall she ducked around Harry throwing open the front door and apparated away as soon as her feet touched the first step.

After the state his daughter had been returned to him in, even without the pregnancy, Mr Granger had scowled at sight of the unfamiliar man holding his only daughters belongings on his doorstep.

He contemplated shutting the door in the man's face but before he had reached a decision he was stopped as a blur of dark chocolate curls flew past his face and his daughter launched herself into the stranger's arms.

"Hello, Mr Granger I presume?" Sirius extended his hand awkwardly around the small creature that was crushing his chest.

"Sirius Black," Sirius introduced himself as Mr Granger hesitantly took his hand.

"Please come in," Mr Granger offered as he saw it may be the only way to get his daughter back inside.

"Thank you," Sirius lifted Hermione's legs as they obediently wrapped around his waist so he could carry her inside.

"I'll be in the den if you need me Princess?" Mr Granger half asked his daughter who still remained glued to the man in his living room.

"Thanks Daddy," she replied without lifting her head.

"S'okay," Mr Granger smiled uncertainly at his daughter as he left the room.

Hermione still clung to Sirius as tight as ever and with no signs of her letting go he moved them both to the cream leather lounge and sat them so that Hermione rested on his lap.

"I'm sorry," his voice was heavy with guilt as he wrapped his arms around her, cradling the back of her head with his large hands. "I shouldn't have ... I just lost it ... I'm so sorry..."

"Don't Sirius," she raised her head from his chest. "I would have taken a lot to strike your best friend like that, you couldn't have possibly done it if you didn't love me so much, so please don't be sorry for loving me."

Sirius smirked at her logic. He bounced his knee making her jump a little in his lap. "Presumptuous little thing aren't you?"

She pouted her bottom lip playfully and he pulled her back into his chest resting his head on top hers. "I do love you though," he whispered to her.

At length Sirius lengthened their hold on one anther. "Harry expects me to cart you back, you know?"

Hermione shook her head. "I can't go back there ... I can't watch that Sirius."

She didn't need to say what 'that' was, the revelation of Tonks' pregnancy and the depth of her and Remus' relationship hanging painfully around them.

"You don't have to," Sirius spoke softly. "You should have seen Harry after you left. We had little choice but to tell him, at least some of what was going on, I admit that we didn't get very far into the explanation before wands were drawn." He stopped sighing as he stroked her hair. She waited patiently for him to continue.

"I thought I could have killed Remus when I found out, but I know Harry would have, if given the chance. I had to pin him down so Remus could get out ...

"Remus isn't welcome there anymore Hermione and Harry and I want you to come home -"

"No! You can't - he didn't -" she didn't know exactly why she was trying to defend Remus but she knew deep down below her aching heart that he hadn't done anything wrong. "He didn't know about the baby." Her eyes filled with tears and she didn't make any attempt to stop them as they ran down her face. "It's not his fault! ... It's my fault more than anyone's! If I hadn't of been so stupid none of this would have ever happened ... I shouldn't have ...I don't want him to be alone Sirius. You shouldn't hate him because of this ...I -I just don't want it to hurt anymore..."

Her ability to make coherent speech was stopped as the sobs wracked her body and she fell forwards into Sirius as he held her close.

As her sobs diminished she became aware of Sirius' voice, a sweet symphony of soothing words in her ear.

"I'm such a mess," she mumbled into his ruined shirt.

oOo

Sirius had implored her to come home refusing to leave until she at least promised to consider it seriously. She had only agreed to consider but she knew when he promised to return three days later that she would be going back with him then. She just needed a few days to calm down, and let the others do the same.

It was the day after Sirius had left and she sat at the window seat in her room chewing her bottom lip as she considered the street below her. The smell of chocolate brownies wafted up into her room as she listened to the sounds of her mother bustling below her feat, somewhere in the kitchen. She could feel her baby kick inside her stomach and she wondered if it too could smell the chocolate. She smiled sadly at the idea of her child inheriting the addiction its father was known for.

It was a week day and her mother should have been at work but her parents had been reluctant to leave her by herself. Her father had taken the day before off and her mother the day present.

The door bell rang in the playful melody that her mother and she had picked out almost three summers ago. Hermione's brow furrowed as she tried to peer down out of her window. Surely she would have seen someone walking up the path?

The angle of her window however wouldn't allow her to view the doorstep and she lifted herself up (with a little difficulty due to her growing size) with thoughts of going downstairs to see who had called.

She scratched that idea before she had left her room, the enthusiastic banter of her mother flowing up the stairs meant it could only be one of her mother's friends and she definitely didn't want to start the 'Oh my, when are you due' conversations that would only lead to accusing glares at her naked ring finger.

After the awkward conversations that had ensued when she had accompanied her mother to the local shops that morning Hermione was already considering slipping on one of her mother's old rings the next time she went out, if only to protect the muggles from the sting of her wand the next time one of them shot a pitying glance and her growing stomach.

She turned away from the landing to head back to her window seat when her baby gave her a rather large kick and she realized she could smell the brownies a lot stronger from where she stood.

"You know you are just going to make us both fat," she scolded her active child good naturedly as she headed for the stairs contemplating how to best sneak to the kitchen without garnering the attention of her mother and her guest.

She had just decided on her route as she was stopped by her mother's voice calling from somewhere behind her.

"Oh Hermione, do come over and see who is here!"

"Mother!" Hermione moaned under her breath as she turned slowly and headed towards the drawing room, her vision of them impeded by the half closed door.

"I heard that Hermione!" Her mother scolded her as Hermione tried to fight the urge to roll her eyes.

"And I saw that too. Honestly I thought I had taught you better behavior around guests - now, I take it you remember -"

Hermione's breath hitched as she finally paid attention to the man standing across the room. He gave her an uncertain half smile causing his blond hair to fall into his pale blue-grey eyes.

"- Mr Lupin. He used to live down street from us when you small."

"I'm sure you would remember him. He used to mind you often when you were too sick to go to preschool ..." her mother continued oblivious to the looks passing between the other two.

"The fairies." Hermione spoke suddenly across her mother's speech. At first her mother looked simply scandaled at her daughter's sudden disregard for manners but as she registered what she had said she shook her head and sharply told her daughter to speak sense or not at all.

"The fairies, mother!"

"Hermione," her mother did not try to hide the roll of her eyes as her daughter continued to speak nonsense.

"It was you!" Hermione's gaze did not stray from the guilty looking wizard standing in her living room.

"Hermione, don't point." Her mother interjected.

"There were fairies in your garden. You showed them to me!"

She waited until he nodded.

"Do you know how much trouble I got into over that?" Hermione half yelled. She turned to her mother "You sent me to bed without dinner every time I mentioned them," and she swung her attention back to other. "All the children teased me at school; I hardly had any friends after that, they all thought I was a baby."

She bit her tongue, regretting her choice in words as soon as they had slipped out. Remus' eyes immediately locked to her stomach as her hands snapped to hide it at the same time.

"I'm sorry," she closed her eyes as she drank his words like water to dying man and she wasn't sure if they were talking about the fairies anymore.

When she opened her eyes again he was addressing her mother.

"I'm sorry for the deception, as you might have guessed I am in fact a wizard. I actually taught Hermione in her third year, though I doubt she remembered me from her childhood at the time."

"Oh but then you are the Professor Lupin!" Her mother's eyes widened as she put together some of the information. "Hermione just adored you; she never stopped telling us what a good teacher Professor Lupin was. I half expect she had a school girl crush on you -"

"Mother!"

"Hermione dear, don't be such a -"

"Mother, stop it now -"

"It's quite alright Hermione -" Remus made to interrupt but was stopped by the deathly glare Hermione sent his way.

"Well I actually came to speak to Hermione for a moment if that's quite alright, with you Juliet?"

Her mother sent an annoyed glance at her daughter but nodded at their guest. "Yes of course Remus. If that's okay with you Hermione as well?"

Hermione smiled at her mother, mentally thanking her for the escape route but nodded her acquiescence as her mother turned to leave the room.

"I'll go make us some tea to go with those brownies. Peppermint Hermione?"

"Yes thank you mom," Hermione felt she might be needing something a bit more to settle her down after the pending conversation but settled for the peppermint all the same.

The minutes stretched out between them after Juliet Granger left the room, no one daring enough to make the first move or sound and break the air between them.

"You're pregnant." His whisper carried across the empty room easily.

"Yes." She answered needlessly.

"Do you want to sit down!?!" He almost jumped as he moved across the room to take her hand and lead her to the lounge chair.

"Yes, thank you. My back was starting to ache a little." She smiled at his worried expression as he realized she had been standing the whole time and he had not helped her to sit down.

"I'm sorry," he gushed and again she was unsure exactly for what he was apologizing.

He backed across the room to give them space and sat in the chair opposite hers. She watched him run his hands through his hair as he tried to organize himself.

"I would have been here yesterday but I had some sorting out to do first." It was almost like he was talking to himself rather than her. This suited Hermione just fine as she sat in her chair clenching and clenching her hand, which he had touched as he helped her sit, trying to stop the tingles that raced up and down her arm.

"I'm not trying to justify my actions, my stupidity ... and I am not trying to get you back. You have every right to send me away and ask that I never see you again, which I will do if that is what you truly want of me - but you need to know first ... Tonks" he winced at the name, before sighing heavily and continuing. "I care for her but I shouldn't have married her. My heart was not in it." He shook his head as he spoke next, "I cannot blame her for what has happened, but that baby ... her baby is not mine."

Hermione could hardly breathe, she couldn't believe it. "Tonks' was having an affair?"

He nodded, chancing a glance at her through his downcast lashes.

"Kingsley intends to marry her and take responsibility of his child."

"But how?" Hermione interrupted, not at all shocked at the identity of the child's father but more of the impossibility of his intentions. "That's simply not possible! Wizarding marriages are not dissolvable."

"Yes." He agreed. "That would make it impossible ... if Tonks and I were married."

"Remus what are you saying?" Hermione yelled in her frustration. She almost slipped from the chair as she tried to get closer, not realizing that she had been gently edging towards him throughout his speech and she was already resting at the edge of her seat.

"If you had come back one day later I would have been married to her. But because you were there, because I had marked you ... it just didn't work."

"My mark?" Hermione's hand softly touched that spot on her leg that throbbed slightly with heat.

He nodded as he watched her touch the covered wounds. "Did it cause you pain that day, at the wedding?"

She nodded remembering the blinding tearing feeling as her leg burst open and she had had to escape the crowd to hide her affliction.

"At the end," she verified.

He smiled painfully as he saw the pain run across her face at even the memory. "I couldn't marry her, because I had married you. The pain that you felt was our binding rejecting the new one. The ministry records do not show Dora and I as wed. It was what I was confirming yesterday."

"Do they show us?" she asked uncertainly not sure what she wanted the answer to be.

"No," he answered as his eyes finally reached hers for the first time in their conversation. "It wasn't a legal binding," he explained. "I guess it's more of a permanent engagement," he gave her a small smile. "You would be the only one I could legally wed."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Don't be," he returned sincerely.

The silence returned as she contemplated all he had said.

At length she spoke. "So you lived on the same street as me?"

He smiled guiltily. "I just had to see if you were real; if I hadn't imagined you all along. I didn't mean to stay but I found a job nearby and ... after what happened to James and Lily and Sirius in Azkaban, Peter thought dead..."

She watched as a single tear escaped from his eye. "I - I didn't mean to hurt you like this ... please know that Hermione!"

His voice was chocked and she knew he meant it.

"I waited ... I waited for you ... I didn't know if you would want me - but I waited. But I didn't wait long enough ... when Albus - when Severus - it was the end of your sixth year and I was so alone ... I'm not asking you to understand or forgive me. Just know ..."

"Do you still love me?" The words were out before she could stop them and now she waited between breaths as he looked up at her again, his eyes looked more blue then they had before but she thought it perhaps from the tears swimming in them. Her heart had stopped beating ...

"I'll never stop."

oOo

She opened the door of Grimmauld Place and waved her wand banishing the frightening dead form of the deceased Headmaster away.

Harry had run to the entrance hall upon hearing the door open. He stopped at the sight of his most dearest friend standing in the open doorway. His shocked look quickly turned to a humungous grin that lit up his face adorably.

"Your home?" he asked almost pleadingly as his voice wavered and his eyes pierced her as if daring her to deny him his best friend.

"On one condition," she tried to stop from grinning at his open love for her as she tried to remain serious.

She moved aside as her hand pulled the man, hiding outside the doorway, inside the entrance.

She looked up as she heard movement on the stairway and she smiled widely as Sirius grinned down upon her as she felt Remus move to wrap his arms around her middle and kiss her neck tenderly.