A/N: I'm sorry for posting this a week too late but well I was busy and time is an illusion anyway. I'll be busy with work for the next month or so but I'll try to post the next chapter after four weeks like before (no promises though). I hope you enjoy this chapter and that it's something to lift your mood a bit before school starts again!

Enjoy ^^

This year Valentine's day didn't fall together with a visit to Hogsmeade. Not that the students paid any mind to that fact. They just celebrated Valentine's day a little later.

Sirius had taken Hermione on a date to Hogsmeade, even though she told him she didn't need a special Valentine's date and that he could spend the day with the boys. He refused, wanting to go on a proper date.

It was nothing special. They visited a few shops, ate something for lunch and ended the day with a butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks. It was an ordinary date, even an ordinary day and Hermione didn't want it any other way.

"You know," she said one day as they were all sitting around in the common room late at night. "This doesn't feel as different as I thought it would. Dating you."

She looked at Sirius as he looked up at her, his head in her lap, her finger carding through his hair. "True, but there is one big difference."

"And what's that?"

He leaned up and kissed her before lying back down. "I can kiss you now any time I want."

"True." There wasn't much that had changed, they still acted the same way around each other as before. The only difference being that they hugged more, sat closer together, kissed each other.

"Ew, drop the PDA, will you?"

"Says the one who hardly does anything else, not minding who sees it and who doesn't."

"He has a point there, Prongs."

"Moony, you're turning against me too?"

Remus shrugged. "Just stating the facts. Have you forgotten that Flitwick caught you snogging in the corridor last week?"

"Please, don't remind me. That was so embarrassing," Lily groaned, hiding her face in her hands.

"I can imagine," the brunette sympathized, though not hiding her amusement. Who would have thought that sweet, good, rule-following Lily would be caught snogging her boyfriend while she was supposed to make her rounds around the castle to make sure that no one was out of bed? In a way it was hilarious, ironic.

Unfortunately with the nice, calm moments also came the tiring moments. She had gone to Dumbledore's office more than she could keep track of. She was steadily giving her memories to him. And though she had been doing it regularly for about two months now, it never got less exhausting.

The last memory she had given him took place at the end of her third year. It was the moment they found out who the real traitor was, who had betrayed the Potters and how he got away. Again.

It had been devastating to relive that moment again. Especially now that she knew Sirius, knew all of them. Now that she was so close to each and every one of them.

She needed a moment to herself. So just like she always did when she came from the headmaster's office Hermione went to the room of requirement. She needed to get her act back together. She always had to remind herself that now that she was here, now that she would stay here, now that she was helping the Order that she wouldn't let that happen again. Nothing of that. Not if it was up to her.

When she made her way back to Gryffindor Tower the brunette could still feel the tiredness, the heaviness in her bones. Recently, it would linger longer and longer. She only hoped the others wouldn't notice it because honestly she hadn't thought how she would explain that to them when they'd eventually ask about it. Which, Hermione thought, was something she had to start thinking about. She couldn't let them find out was she was really doing.

"Mione, where have you been? I've been looking for you forever."

"Why were you looking for me?"

"Because I wanted to do this," he said as he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his lap.

She just let him, lying back against him, her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes, tired. Why was it that extracting these memories was so exhausting? Was it because there were so many? Or because they were so emotionally loaded? Maybe both? She didn't know. The only thing she knew was that it made her feel tired and that she was comfortable now, lying here with Sirius' arms around her.

"Tired?" he asked her. The brunette just gave a little hum in reply. He let her be for a while before he sent her to bed before she fell asleep in the common room.

"Have you noticed anything about Mione lately?" Sirius asked Remus and Peter that night when they were lying in bed.

"No?" Peter asked more than stated, not sure what he should have noticed, if anything.

"Not really, no. Why?"

"She looks tired."

"Maybe it's just all the schoolwork catching up to her."

"Or maybe she is worried because when she goes back to the Weasleys next break, they'll have another baby."

Sirius hummed. "Maybe." He wasn't convinced. The last few weeks she had looked tired. It wasn't really anything about her appearance that made him think that, it was more in the way she acted. It all went that tad bit slower, she joked back a little less, teased a little less, talked a little less. It wasn't especially noticeable. Maybe he noticed because he hung around her almost all the time? Or maybe the guys were right and there was nothing wrong and he was just imagining things.

The weeks following after that he kept a close eye on her. And he was right. She really did look tired, exhausted almost. The only problem was that he didn't know why that was the case. Agreed, they had a fair amount of schoolwork but it was nothing Hermione couldn't handle. On the contrary, knowing her she would finish it all in the blink of an eye and do some extra studying just because she could.

The nights she would come back to the common room late also happened more often. And almost every time she came back it got later and later.

"Where have you been, Mione?" he asked her one night. It was almost midnight then, him being the only person left in the common room.

"The library." He didn't exactly believe her but there wasn't much he could do. He let it slide. For only a couple of days.

Every time she would come back he would ask where she had been. And every time she would answer that she had been in the library. Finally, he decided to bring in the marauders map, wanting to know where she went before she came back so late. He knew that it wasn't really the best thing to do – especially when she would find out – but he couldn't care less right now. Plus he was a marauder, such a thing was to be expected of him.

Apart from the times he had quidditch practice and would be back late himself he always checked the map when she wasn't back by a certain hour. Maybe he was a little obsessed, maybe he looked more into it than needed. But he wasn't thinking about that. Sirius just simply wanted to know why she was so tired and clearly Hermione wasn't going to say anything so he had to go about it this way.

When he checked the map there was something that caught his attention. He was never able to find her. No matter where he looked on the map, no matter how many times he checked and double checked, he was never able to find her name anywhere. Until she would appear out of nowhere somewhere on the seventh floor.

So when Sirius asked where she'd been and she would say she had been in the library, he knew she was lying. He didn't know where she went or what she did but he knew for a fact that she hadn't been in the library. He couldn't confront her about it though or he would have to explain how he knew. And he just couldn't tell her about the map.

So he didn't say anything, didn't do anything. He would wait, see if she would tell him herself. And if she didn't, he could always find a way to bring it up himself. He wasn't a marauder for nothing. But for now he wanted to wait and see.

It was their second to last DADA class before Easter break.

"Okay, now I know you've learnt how to get rid of a boggart back in third year and that we've reviewed in on several occasions. But I don't want to begin with a new subject before break starts and I bet you don't either," professor Gray said in amusement. "So we'll go over it once again. Maybe it can even come in handy outside of these school walls. You never know." They all knew what he meant. There was a reported rise in attacks, the attacks rising slowly but steadily. Yes, maybe it could come in handy. You never knew these days with what you'd be confronted and what spell could help you out.

They had no idea that the class would end so miserably. At least for one of them.