Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

Hello guys! This is dedicated to my Sirius Black fans, who wanted him and Hermione to be together from the start. I wish you a good reading, and hope you might review!

This starts at the end of Chapter 42 of my HG/RAB fanfiction called 'The Right Path', and, to summarise the whole thing so you don't have to read the other story from the start: Hermione went back in time, had a relationship with Sirius Black because she loved Regulus and denied it because he was a Death Eater, but saves Regulus on the day of his death, then they both go into hiding and Sirius is sad and heartbroken because he thinks she's dead, so he killed Peter Pettigrew and went to Azkaban, and she decides to go and talk to him, reveal everything and apologise.

An Unwound Future

-o-O-o-

Chapter 1

-o-O-o-

She didn't really know why she was there. She didn't really know why she told him about her time travel. She didn't really know what they were anymore. She loved Regulus. They were married, after all. But still, she could never forget Sirius Black, who had taken care of her when his brother couldn't.

So there they were, in the cold prison of Azkaban, two months after James and Lily's death, she just outside his cell, he crouched inside, gripping the bars.

"There was something between us, right?" he asked. "I mean, there was love, and passion…"

"Yes, there was." she admitted. "There was love, passion, there was a flame… But there was regret, deceit, hidden thoughts…"

"Only on your part." he said accusingly.

"I know." she said. "I'm the love of your life, but you weren't mine. You were a love in my life."

"I thought…" he started, before clearing his throat, as his voice was thick with multiple and conflicting emotions. "I though we went deeper than skin."

"We did." she agreed. "And what lied within is still deeper than we know." There was a silence. "I loved you, you know." she blurted out at one point.

"Really?" he asked. "When?"

"When I mistook my love for Regulus with hatred…" she explained. "Since that day, when you were ready to take me back despite everything I'd done, all those times I just let you down and hurt you…"

"I'd take you back now with open arms." he said, almost to himself.

She smiled. "I loved you for that." she explained. "But then… The day Mary died, I realised love wasn't enough to keep us together. That death could do us easily apart."

"Then I asked you to marry me." he said, to carry the story on.

"Yes." she agreed. "I didn't know what to say. I said yes as I weighed both options, thinking that, had I said no, you would've realised that I'm not the one for you, that I kept letting you down and hurting you… I was afraid you'd leave me." Her voice broke as she revealed this.

"I wouldn't have." he declared softly.

She smiled weakly. "I only realise that now." she admitted. She sighed. "Then I realised my mistakes, saying yes and that I loved Regulus, and I decided to fix them both… So I left. And I hurt you."

"I lived." he said, trying to toughen himself up a bit.

"Obviously." she said. "But I hated myself for hurting you, and when Regulus said the same… I guess we fit because we're both monsters in our own eyes." she theorised.

"You aren't a monster to me." he declared, grabbing the bars of his cell.

"And he's not one to me." she said. "Don't you see, Sirius?" she asked, exasperated. She stood up, pacing the corridor in front of him. "He is to me what I am to you! He's…" she smiled. "He's my Hermione."

After a while, he sighed. "I guess we're both fools then?" he asked.

"Yeah." she agreed with a short laugh. "If they had a king for fools, would you wear the crown?" she asked.

"Probably." he told her. "But we'd have to share it."

There was another long pause, during which Hermione sat back down in front of Sirius, so that she could whisper to him. "I love you, Sirius." she admitted.

"I love you, Hermione." he answered, even though he knew perfectly well that these words didn't mean the same thing from her as they did from him.

"Maybe," she mused. "Maybe there's a book, in the archives of time, that's called: 'Sirius Black, Hermione Granger; an Unwound Future'." She turned to him. "I think I'd read it, if I ever stumbled upon it."

"I'd like to live it." he declared.

She smiled, but it faded quickly. "I'm sorry."

"I don't care." he answered, suddenly finding strength. "The funny thing with love is what it feels like… It feels like planting a knife in your heart when you're suicidal. It feels awfully good, but there's still the fucking pain behind it."

"I guess that's an accurate description." she agreed, turning her gaze away in guilt.

He smiled weakly. "And when the person loves you back, you love them even more, because you know the pain they're in… And you feel like this brings you closer."

"I know what it feels like." she whispered.

"I know." he said. "And I don't believe anything can make me love you more."

"Even though I'm the cause of your pain?" she asked weakly.

"Sure." he said nonchalantly, almost shrugging. "After all, you are happy… And, for now, that's all that matters."

"Thank you." she said, almost crying.

"Please don't cry." he said, sounding exhausted. "It only makes everything so much harder…"

"When are they going to stop hitting us?" she asked with strength, starting to sob.

"Who?" he asked, his voice confused.

"The stones we threw, Sirius." she said. "All those stones we threw at each other to keep us together… We should have realised that the longer we stayed together, the harder it would be to keep away later, and avoid all this pain."

She cried for a while. When her sobs quietened, he declared: "One day, the stones will stop coming, Hermione. One day, we'll be looking at that pile of rocks at out feet and laugh. Then we'll build a wall with them between us, to keep ourselves from hurting each other."

"But I need you." she whispered.

He shook his head. "You think that now, when you're spreading your deck of secrets on the table, because you know you can't do that with everyone… But one day, you'll find someone else, who knows you the way I do."

She sighed. "I hope it will happen soon." she said.

He smiled. "I'm just your best friend, after all. It's not as if I was your soul mate, or anything." They laughed a little, before he sighed and said: "And for all this pantomime, you should see the state I'm in."

"I can't." she said. "And that's my problem. I know I'm hurting you, but I don't know how much… So I can't heal you. Only time can do that now."

He shook his head. "I can't heal myself with time alone." he said. "I have you tattooed on my skin."

-o-O-o-

That night, Sirius Black wished. He wished upon a star.

He was not a man to wish for things. He usually had them before he even wanted them. Besides, who wishes for something they could easily have? Or have at all?

Because, that night, Sirius Black wished for Hermione Granger to be his.

It was a selfish wish, one which completely ignored his brother's interests, but love renders blind not only to the other's faults, but to the surrounding people's pain too. It was also impossible, because he was cooped up and alone, and she was free… Free… Free…

He wished upon Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, the one after which he was named. "Please." he begged, glancing through his narrow window of his cell in Azkaban. "Please…"

Then he started to sob.

He didn't have anything else to say.

But Fate had heard everything. Sirius' love was pure and true, and she could only oblige.

And the space time continuum was disturbed once more.

-o-O-o-

"I... Thank you... I don't know what to say..."

Someone in the crowd shouted: "GROUP HUG!" and suddenly, all the Gryffindors, from 1st to 7th years, were huddled close around the newcomer.

Sirius was sitting on a couch, Marlene on his lap and some other random sixth year fawning over him, massaging his scalp. He vaguely heard Lily make her usual welcome speech, but he didn't pay that much attention to it. He was too busy inhaling the smell of these two heavily perfumed girls.

What? A group hug? He almost snorted. Well, that's what he called a ridiculous prospect. Besides, the new girl, for he vaguely remembered Lily mentioning that it was a girl, was probably an old hag. Not one you'd like to get close to.

And then he heard it.

Her laugh.

His eyes flashed open and he sat up straight on his armchair. Her laugh. It was as if it penetrated his very soul, as if those thousands of silver bells vibrated throughout his entire being, as if time and space itself stopped in the space of an instant to let Sirius Black think of one thing: this girl.

Her laugh was like music to his ears.

"Sirius?" Marlene asked, as her raven-haired companion stood up from the armchair walked towards where the girl's laugh had originated. He needed to talk to her now.

Unfortunately, no one was there. Oh, well, he thought as he shrugged, he would have to wait until morning.

And, ignoring the protests of the two girls, he climbed up the staircase to his dormitory.

There, Remus was reading and James and Peter were playing a game of Wizard Chess. "Hey, guys," Sirius started, planting himself in the middle of the room as if to make an announcement. "I'm in love." he announced.

"Wonderful, Sirius." Remus told him, disinterested and not even looking up from his book.

Sirius stared at his best friend. "Is that it?" he asked. "I declare my love for someone, you don't even know who I'm talking about, it could be you for all you knew, and all you say is 'Wonderful.'?!"

Remus sighed and looked up at the seventeen-year-old like one would if he were a decade older. "You fell in love last week." he explained. "And the week before. And the week before that, twice, if my memory doesn't fail me." He went back to his book. "Don't you think it's getting a little bit… Old?"

"But this is different!" Sirius explained, waving his arms around his head as if he was trying to help a Hippogriff landing.

"Sure it is, Padfoot." James said, knocking out one of Peter's knights. "Check. So was Alexandra… And Cynthia… And Anne… And Jane… Oh!" he said, looking up from the board to look at his best friend, an amused glint in his eyes. "And I almost forgot your latest one, Marlene!" He laughed and slapped his knee.

"Yeah, Sirius!" Peter piped in, moving his king to the left. "What are you going to tell her now?"

"You don't even know who I'm talking about!" Sirius said, pouting. He walked over to his bed and slumped down on it, sulking.

"Alright, Sirius." James gave in, looking up at the moody boy. "Who is it?"

"The new girl." Sirius mumbled, still not forgiving his friends.

"Hello?" James said, his eyes turning back to the chess board. "We want a name!" he added as though it was very obvious and should have occurred to him.

"Oh!" Sirius exclaimed, suddenly a little embarrassed. He scratched the black locks at the back of his head, a little nervous. "I, er… I didn't catch it." he admitted.

James burst out laughing and Peter soon followed. Even Remus smiled a little from behind his book. "Why am I not surprised?" the werewolf asked rhetorically.

"Not my fault!" Sirius defended himself as James moves his bishop to the right hand side of the chessboard. "I didn't even get a glimpse of her!"

"Oh?" Remus asked. "Then how can you know that you are in love with her?"

"Well…" Sirius said, embarrassed once more. "I… I heard her laugh… And, Moony," he added, before they could laugh at him again. "Believe me, I felt it deep…"

"Yeah," James agreed as Peter moved a pawn forwards. "Deep down your pants."

James and Peter burst out laughing once more, and Sirius scowled. "Whatever." he declared, stripping down to his boxers and slipping underneath his covers. "What do you guys know about love anyway?"

"Heaps more than you do, Paddy, my friend." James said, moving his castle all the way down a row. "Heaps more than you do." he added, then stood up, stretched and declared: "Checkmate."

Peter scanned the board thoroughly and then cursed: "Oh, man! I was sure to win this one!"

-o-O-o-

After a little while, all the boys in the Gryffindor dormitories had fallen asleep. All? No. A certain Sirius Orion Black was still wide awake in his bed, thinking about the laugh he had heard.

It was plaguing his mind.

If it wasn't love he was feeling, then what was it?

He slipped out of his bed and walked to its nearest twin. He pulled the curtains away and poked its occupant in the shoulder. "Prongs." he said. Seeing that his friend wasn't waking up, he tried again, more forcefully. "Prongs!"

The other boy gasped and sat upright in his bed immediately, before grabbing his glasses and wand from his bedside table. "Lumos." he whispered, and slid his glasses onto his nose. "What is it?" he asked, a little panicky.

"I want to know what love feels like." Sirius admitted.

"Doubting yours already?" his friend snickered, before yawning and looking at the time on his pocket watch. "Wait a minute." he said, blinking rapidly as if that would change the time written there. "You wake me up," he started, sounding as though he was repressing very extreme anger. "At fucking half past fucking two in the fucking morning, to ask me what fucking love fucking feels like?"

"Well, yeah." Sirius said, as if there was nothing wrong with it.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" he whispered so as not to wake anyone else up, sounding outraged.

"Now, James." Sirius said. "That's a whole lot of fucking. If you carry on like that, you'll get one of them pregnant. That would be ugly, now, wouldn't it?"

"I'll give you ugly." James muttered, running his hand through his hair in exasperation.

"Please, Prongsie," Sirius pleaded. "If you tell me what it feels like, you can have my eternal gratitude!"

James sighed. "Fine." he gave in. "I guess… Love is sort of… Painful, but… Makes you feel happy." He looked at his friend, who looked extremely confused. James shook his head and continued. "It's at the same time, the thing you want the most and the thing you despise the most about yourself. It's pure joy, pure need to please, to be noticed, to be owned, even, by the person you love."

"Alright." Sirius said, nodding to himself.

"So?" James asked.

Sirius looked confused And arched an eyebrow at him. "So what?" he asked.

James sighed. "Do you love her? The new girl, I mean." he explained.

"Huh." Sirius said, turning away from his friend's bed. "I don't think so… But I am going to marry her, though." he announced.

James laughed and threw a pillow at his best friend. "Go to bed, weirdo. Try to catch some of the" he looked at his watch. "five hours or so hours of sleep we have left."

"Okay." Sirius said, and went back to his bed. He lay awake another five minutes or so before asking: "Hey, Prongs?"

"Hmm?" James asked, barely awake anymore.

"She'll be mine soon." he said, and, with this note of confidence and James weak laughter echoing around the circular room, Sirius Black fell asleep.

-o-O-o-

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