Chapter 46: Brian

Given the opportunity, it took no time at all for Umbridge to seek to make whole the Wizengamot she'd appointed herself Chief Warlock of. For the first time in the Order knew not how many appointees to the Wizengamot, the Saturday morning paper contained a spread calling for public secondary nominations to fill Smith's empty seat – a seat, the paper reported, left empty by Margot Smith "resigning" from her position.

'Stretches the definition of the word,' Sirius remarked to Hermione and Harry as Hermione read the article, sent by Bill, aloud.

'Can you resign,' said Harry, 'if you can't breathe?'

'I don't believe so,' Hermione answered disparagingly before continuing with the article. It definitely made out that Brian, out of three primary nominees put forward, was the best candidate… Unless you liked the sound of a witch who wanted to put her child molestation charges behind her and a retired Auror who thought Hinkypunks the biggest challenge facing the nation.

'Does a lot to discredit the Aurors while at it,' Sirius added, annoyed.

In Hermione's opinion, it did a lot to discredit the Ministry and the Wizengamot too. It made a mockery of the public nomination process that had been a staple of Wizarding justice for a little over one hundred years – since Minister Faris "Spout-Hole" Spavin had decided the Wizarding public aware enough of political processes to generously include them in Wizengamot appointments.

Brian was depicted by the papers just as Sirius had thought he would be. His section was written so admirably Hermione was surprised they'd felt the need to pit him against two people who were, so obviously, not about to be voted for. Any interested member of the public had the opportunity to provide secondary nominations before the end of the week, at which point one of the three nominees would take a seat among 49 others in the Wizarding high court. Unless Hermione completely misunderstood public opinion, that would be Brian, and she tried to feel that as a good thing – if only for the Order, not the nation as a whole.

Though Hermione had been trying to teach the Perkins's Nutteblossom to whistle every time she'd tended it that week, the only thing it seemed to have leaned was a long groan. She and Harry sat before it for a long while that day, whistling "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" at it, trying to find some success on the last day they had it. They gave up eventually, standing up to the sound of a very disappointed groan from the plant.

'It's learned something, at least,' said Harry to Neville when the latter arrived to take the Nutterblossom and Chagarins Plant back home to Pomona.

'It's more than most students achieve!' Neville said cheerfully.

And far less than Sirius and James had. But then, no one could say the two had ever been a great example to follow. Hermione walked out of the library that evening to see Sirius stood, balanced, on the balustrade of the flight of stairs down to the first floor. She yelped.

Startled, Sirius jumped, sliding a couple inches down the staircase's balustrade. Hermione yelped again, but before she'd even launched to grab him, he'd found traction again, caught his balance against the higher set of stairs, and leant back over the gaping gap between staircases.

'Don't shriek at me…' he said distractedly, returning his wand to whatever it had been doing to the underside of the third staircase, 'when I'm trying to balance…'

'What are you doing?' Hermione asked.

Focused on his wandwork, Sirius didn't respond.

Hermione took a slow, deep, and very exasperated breath. He'd done this the other day, when he'd been trying to remove a stubborn bit of the covering under the third floor stairs: not show any indication of having heard her. It seemed a temporary thing, though. About two minutes after Hermione had suggested house elf magic may be the cause of the stubbornness, he'd nodded and called Kreacher. So, watching Sirius stand on a narrow and sloping handrail, leant forward over a gap that would be a bad fall to the ground floor, Hermione waited, her wand ready.

It didn't take too long. Sirius straightened up a minute later, balanced for a moment without a handhold, and then hopped off. He landed neatly on a step and Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. Sirius scooped his hair out of his face and turned toward her. He noticed the wand pointed at him and gave Hermione a curious look.

'Just in case,' Hermione explained irritably, 'you fell off!'

'I wasn't going to fall, Mione,' he said, nonchalant. 'If I can balance stood on a broom I can balance on that,' he indicated the balustrade.

Hermione huffed at him.

'What,' she repeated, 'were you doing?'

'Putting some loose nails back,' Sirius said, indicating the staircase behind him. Hermione looked at it. That staircase with "loose nails" was the one she climbed to go to bed every night. Three storeys off the ground. 'I thought you'd like that I put them back,' Sirius added, 'rather than just decide they were spare parts.'

He was driving her mad, he knew it, and he obviously found it amusing. Admittedly, Sirius was trying not to grin. He was just doing a terrible job of it. Hermione ran through a few possible responses, and decided on, 'If that thing collapses under me, I will kill you.'

Sirius nodded solemnly, then chuckled and put and arm around her shoulders.

'I've reinforced all of the staircases, Hermione,' he told her. 'They're not about to collapse.'

He removed his arm from around her shoulders before they reached the kitchen. They were far from the first to arrive for the meeting, chatter filling the room from several groups clustered around a table Kreacher had loaded with enough food to feed the entire Order. It was easy to spot the newcomer. Hermione looked over the table as she and Sirius took seats on either side of Harry and Ginny.

Brian Voigt was engaged in a lively conversation with Fleur about some musician that had become quite popular in France. Stocky – though decently tall – about Bill's age, with a deep-set honey brown tan and a general aura of affable blokeyness, Brian looked like a man who'd spent his life playing a great deal of rugby out in the southern sun. Perhaps someone who'd wolf whistled at a woman at some point in his life, Hermione thought, but not, as Sirius had described him, someone who looked smarmy. And, anyway, he was talking to Fleur. Almost every man that looked at Fleur did it directly and with appreciation.

Except, Hermione realised, glancing to check, Sirius. She'd never seen him do that.

Brian and Fleur's conversation had slowed. The new wizard looked to the head of the table as well.

'Sirius,' he greeted pleasantly. 'This your hause, hey?' Sirius nodded. 'It's nice,' Brian told him. 'Needs a bit of furniture, though.'

'We'll get there,' Sirius agreed, sufficiently less genially that Hermione noticed, though she wasn't sure anyone else did.

Bill came up behind Brian, carrying a chair. He tucked it, quite deliberately, between Brian and Fleur, and sat down. Brian gave him an amused look that Bill acknowledged with an unaffected one.

'What happened,' Bill said casually, 'to that aid policy they were talking about for Eskom?'

Brian laughed. It was an easy laugh, as though it needed little to be elicited from him.

'Fizzled,' he answered. 'No one hed their hopes up.'

Sirius had said Brian had been largely filled in on what had been going on, but not brought up to speed on everything the Order knew. Hermione fetched their notes when the conversation lulled and sat down beside Brian to talk him through it before the meeting.

Glancing up as she paged through the notes, explaining, Hermione noticed it wasn't just Fleur Brian treated to an appreciative look. Hermione hesitated under his hazel-eyed gaze, Brian paying her very close attention, before looking back to the page before her. Sirius didn't look at her that way when others were around. Sirius wouldn't even choose to sit next to her at the table when there were other people there. It struck a deep chord of discontent in Hermione she didn't want to deal with right now.

'So there was a nomination process for the appointees before me, then?' Brian asked when Hermione took a breath between talking him through the people they'd guessed to be in the Wizengamot now.

'There probably was,' Hermione agreed, looking up. Brian returned his eyes to hers and Hermione got another little shock of feeling appreciated, made uncomfortable by the fact that Sirius was no more than a few feet away. 'But Percy, Kingsley, Audrey, and Arthur – the Ministry employees we have in the Order – weren't even aware of new appointments to the Wizengamot, let alone given the chance to provide any nominations at all – primary or secondary.'

Hermione set her left hand to be more visible on the table. Her wedding band was the only mark of Sirius she had. Though, even that, Sirius hadn't wanted to give her.

'A century ago,' Hermione went on, 'before Wizengamot nominations became a public matter, all Ministry Heads of Office, at least, would be involved in electing a new member. Arthur is one – he's head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. So, that he wasn't informed about new nominations makes it apparent the nomination body was smaller than even that for the new members appointed during Voldemort's and Umbridge's tenures. But they must be nominated by some group, so we think, lately, that's just been the Heads of Departments and Offices that gained or kept their influential positions under Voldemort or Umbridge – the ones who would nominate the people Umbridge wants in her Wizengamot.'

Brian nodded.

'You… understand?' Hermione asked uncertainly.

Brain treated her to a humorous look.

'Your Ministry's a gemors,' he deduced, creating the word with a weird gurgling noise in the back of his throat. 'Ja. I'm familiar with it.'

Hermione wasn't sure what that meant, but it sounded like a summary that showed Brian did understand. She carried on, and, other than the occasional 'Ja', Brian didn't speak again until after Hermione had finished explaining the Muggle-born Integration Scheme.

'Clever political move,' Brian commented.

Hermione frowned at him. That wasn't how she'd describe it.

'What's this Order been doing since?' Brian said bluntly, looking back at her. 'Protecting their own and other Muggle-borns. None of you heve appeared in the papers since the Scheme was annaunced, and you I recognise from the papers before then. Umbridge has silenced you and Harry Potter with one Scheme.'

That was undeniably true. The Order, quite honestly, had been too scared of facing the Ministry's wrath since then to do anything more than work in absolute secret. Umbridge had pinned Hermione, Sirius, Kingsley, and those who cared about them, under a net that could threaten Azkaban or something similar if they were caught putting any foot wrong. Hermione stared at the new wizard, not happy about the revelation.

'But you're supposed to be ignorant of all that, Brian,' Tonks said, sliding onto the table beside Sirius and sitting on it, her legs crossing. Sirius didn't try to see Hermione around her. 'You can have an idea about the Act around Umbridge and her minions… But for the Wizengamot members…' Tonks tipped her head, and waved a hand at the Order notes. 'Well, the good thing is, you'd have a hard time remembering the names and what we know about over forty people we think are in the Wizengamot. I had to study those notes, for hours, to have some chance of recognising one when I saw them. So just don't look at them too long and you won't seem like you know things you shouldn't.'

'Love the hair, Tonks,' said Ginny.

Tonks cast her eyes up towards her hairline. Her head was covered in multi-coloured spikes that wobbled high above her head as she moved. She smiled and indicated Teddy. The baby, with hair identical to Tonks's, was being carried off for bed upstairs by Remus, Kreacher close behind him.

'Teddy came up with them,' Tonks said. 'Product of a sleepy mind, I reckon.' She scrunched up her face and let the spikes relax, but kept its rainbow colouring. The hair fell around her head, looking much prettier wafting about her shoulders. 'Figured I'd let Remus put him to bed,' she said, leaning on a hand. 'He's better at it. I keep running back into the room when Teddy cries. Remus can give it a good five minutes before he gives in.'

'How much of you is currently morphed?' Brian asked curiously.

Tonks grinned at him.

'You really think I'd answer that honestly?'

'Ja,' Brian said, 'I do.'

'All right then,' said Tonks comfortably. 'Just my hair…' She tipped her head, smiling self-consciously. 'And my toes.'

'What ees wrong weeth your toes?' Fleur asked.

'They're ugly,' Tonks told her.

Fleur considered that.

'Weell,' she said, quite graciously, 'I theenk you look pretty otherwise.'

General chatter had taken over from Order business. Hermione fetched herself some food and sat back in her original seat. She glanced toward Sirius on several occasions, but he wasn't looking back at her. He wasn't speaking either, and he looked tightly bound. Though, that could be Hermione's impression as a result of a comparison with Brian, who was reclined in his chair with a much more loose-muscled drape. Paler, taller, with much darker hair, notably more striking good looks, and far more upright… on another glance at him, Hermione decided it wasn't just a comparison that made Sirius look tense. He was tense. And ignoring her. Deliberately, this time.

With nice food on the table, chatter everywhere, and notably high spirits, this meeting was looking a lot more like a social gathering than an important discussion. Ron and Leonora arrived, coming off watch, walking hand in hand, just after Kingsley, who, with Remus still upstairs putting Teddy down, just sat in a chair (probably to be on the same eyeline) and stated talking to Filius. Luna arrived with Minerva, the latter looking like she was trying very hard to keep listening politely to whatever Luna was telling her. Minerva spotted Filius and Kingsley and made her excuses quickly, leaving Luna to sit with Neville and Hannah and treat them to a conversation they appeared more appreciative of. Arthur came down, spotted Hermione and made a beeline for her, wanting to ask her about the "switchy-board".

Hagrid didn't come to all meetings, what with Hogwarts's grounds and animals still his responsibility and not being able to travel as easily as the rest to London, but he did come to this one. Within minutes of tramping down into the kitchen he'd both heaped a plate with food and engaged Brian in a talk about the Tokoloshe. Hermione and Harry shared a look, both hoping Hagrid never acquired one.

The meeting began with introductions and the warning that Brian, if his promising position as spy did pan out, was someone the Order would need to give no indication of being in contact with. It wasn't really something the Order needed to be told.

'I learned little you don't already know,' Brian said when asked about his meetings at the Ministry. 'My first impression was of a fractured group who held charge. None of the people I met like each other in the slightest. It's a competitive etmosphere of endless politics. They mentioned none of you directly, though Bertram Blishwick did refer to people who would see them fail. And the Muggle-borns you moved overseas heve been noticed as missing by the Office for Muggle-born Protection. They heve a list of what they're calling "Displaced and Vulnerable Persons" that they're trying to find. Flint told me thet was the Office's focus.'

'They're not going to find them,' Bill said. 'Not the ones hiding on the Continent. We have it from Charlie – my brother,' he added for Brian's benefit, 'Percy, and Elphias here, that our international relations are a mess. Our Ministry has little chance of gaining the cooperation of Ministries abroad.'

'Ja-nee,' Brian said, nodding, 'it is. There's great contempt for this country. Partly due to the cancelled World Cup, but it's not just thet. The International Confederation of Wizards isn't happy with the poor state of Muggle management here or what they're reporting as continued instances of Being Rights violations.'

'Yeah, well,' said Lee, 'we're not hearing any of that. Had a look at our papers yet?'

Brian had. Audrey leant forward over the table and looked down the table at Brian.

'You said you saw the offices that dealt with Muggle relations?' she asked.

Brian nodded.

'What did you think?' Audrey pressed.

'I thought everyone in them looked frazzled,' Brian answered. 'There were a good few offices that looked thet way. I've never seen a more depressed-looking Department for Games and Sports…' he reconsidered that. 'Well,' he corrected, 'ja, actually, I have, but that was after the twentieth big match was lost by our home team.'

Audrey wasn't interested in games and sports.

'We're horrendously underfunded!' she exclaimed. 'The Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee now keeps only a skeleton crew overnight – you should see people when they get off shift in the morning. They're exhausted! And the Obviators aren't doing much better. They've had to pick up a lot of our work as more and more people in our office have been let go – or just never returned after the war. We only have one Muggle-born left, and he's working overtime – he can barely sit down for people consulting him on how best to explain away magical disturbances the Muggles have noticed!'

'So,' said Brian, looking quizzically at Kingsley, 'some Muggle-borns are free?'

'A handful,' Kingsley agreed. 'Those still alive that the Muggle-born Marriage Act didn't apply to and those able to comply with it.'

Audrey was pink and breathing heavily. Fred stuck a caramel slice on a plate for her and slid it down the table.

'International Relations are appalling,' Percy said. 'We're hitting more and more walls. I've spent the past three weeks working to resecure St Mungos' supply of Billywig stings – and that's not even my job. The New Zealand Ministry has already all but shut its trade borders to us, and Australia is debating following them, despite us being their second biggest trade partner in the northern hemisphere.'

The Auror office was compared to a day-care facility, and Arthur, alone in his office, received no support at all. Aside from the Department of International Magical Cooperation, their offices were not any of the ones favoured as important by Umbridge's administration.

'Goom and dloom,' said George. 'On a lighter note,' he pulled the flesh-coloured string of an Extendable Ear out of a pack by his feet, 'we have a toy for you all.'

'Thankful mention,' said Fred, 'goes to Hermione and Sirius, for the ideas.' He gave them both a nod. Sirius didn't acknowledge it. 'And here's to hoping you two never pair up and open a rival shop.'

George called their attention back to him. He held up the Ear and waited until all eyes were on him before putting the listening end in his ear. The Extendable Ear disappeared. Completely. He breathed something to it.

'We call it,' said Fred, 'the Undetectable Extendable Ear! Show 'em George.'

George plucked the invisible end out of his ear. It became visible again, snaked around the bowls and dishes on the table and looped, several times, around Minerva's neck. She gave a startled noise and looked down at it.

'You can't see it,' George said happily, 'and you can't feel it. No, it can't go through walls. We tried, but couldn't manage it.'

'And it's not un-thwart-able,' warned Fred. 'If someone steps on it or it gets severed some other way it reappears, so be careful to avoid that.'

The meeting ended and the making of watch schedules began. Brian turned to the twins and asked them about the Extendable Ear. They let him try it out, and he sat, listening for a while with an expression Ron and Ginny found amusing to the conversation Luna and Hagrid were having at the other end of the table.

'Sirius,' said Kingsley, getting to his feet, 'mind if I use the sitting room to teach Brian to create a messenger Patronus?'

Sirius nodded them on and Brian got up.

Fleur prodded Bill, then leant over his shoulder to ask, 'How do you say eet? Ze goodbye?'

'Er…' said Bill. He looked up at Brian. 'Wasn't it… goeenaaggg?'

Brian laughed, tucking his chair in.

'Jy ook,' he said, amused. 'Totsiens vir nou.'

Fleur frowned at Bill as Brian left the kitchen.

'What does zat mean?' she asked him.

Bill sniffed, and turned a bemused look on her.

'I don't know,' he admitted.

'Probably called you a moron, big bro,' George suggested helpfully, patting Bill on the shoulder.

'No,' disagreed Bill. 'I'd recognise it if he did.'

'Oh yeah?' Ginny said interestedly. 'How do you call someone a moron in…' she pointed to where Brian had left, 'that language?'

Bill cast a look down the table towards his mother. He fought a smile. Molly was talking to Remus, but Arthur was watching them.

'Never you mind, Ginny,' Bill said quietly.

'But I do mind,' Ginny plied. 'Come on Bill!'

'Yeah,' said Fred, scooting his chair up nearer his eldest brother – and further away from his parents. 'Come on Bill! Only dad's listening.'

George leant his head on a fist and batted his eyelashes at Bill.

'You taught us most of the other foreign bad words we know,' he said.

Fleur tutted. Bill laughed.

'Charlie,' he said, 'taught you most of the bad words you know. Not me.' With George snatching up his hand and treating him to excessively begging eyes, Bill gave in. 'Fine,' he said. 'I only know three: "dof", "domkop" and "doos". The first two are pretty mild, the third… doesn't only mean "idiot".'

'What does it mean, Bill?' Ginny asked.

But even with the others joining in, Bill was chuckling too hard to say.

'My guess is,' said Sirius, breaking the sniggering and pleading hubbub, 'that it means "cunt".'

'Sirius!' Fleur scolded.

He looked at her, eyebrows raised. There wasn't an ounce of either humour or appreciation in his look.

'Doos,' Sirius repeated. 'It means "box" in Dutch. It's a pretty easy connection to make. And, by that token, Bill, I think he said "you too" something "for now". So I think he was just saying goodbye.'

'You speak Dutch?' Harry asked him, surprised.

'No,' Sirius answered, and that was it for his contribution to the conversation.

Ginny was still giggling. She cast a look down the table.

'I love dad,' she snickered quietly. 'He was just as interested as we were!'

Arthur looked away hastily as the rest of his children started laughing. Molly noticed, looking over at them. She turned her eyes on Arthur and he shrugged. It made the Weasley children laugh harder. The odd one out was Percy, sat further down the table and looking uninterested. Sirius, Fleur, and Leonora seemed less than impressed as well. Fleur rattled something quickly off in French and Leonora grinned. Obviously speaking enough French to grasp what she'd said, Bill glanced up at Fleur. She smiled broadly and shrugged. Sirius just sat there, not looking at Hermione, barely making eye contact with anyone, until people started heading out.

Sirius didn't even give Hermione the opportunity to walk beside him on the steps up to the third floor. He took them two at a time and strode into his bedroom without a backwards glance. Hermione stopped on the landing and stared at his open bedroom door. He hadn't shut her out that way, at least.

She followed him in and snapped the door closed. Sirius had sat on his bed and pulled out his cigarettes. Hermione glared at him.

Lighting up, Sirius met her eyes.

'What is it?' Hermione asked, more gently than she'd planned.

Sirius sighed out a lungful of smoke, looking away.

'I don't know,' he muttered.

Hermione didn't believe that. He just didn't want to say.

'I know you don't like him,' she pressed. 'He never had your daring, I get that. But it's useful for us that he didn't – and it doesn't make him a bad person.'

'Mm.'

Hermione's teeth grit.

'Oh – for heaven's sake, Sirius! What is it?'

Sirius breathed his latest pull out of his nose.

'Bit annoying,' he said coolly, 'that the person who just smiled and nodded is the one more useful to the Order.'

That was why he was upset?

'I…' Hermione said after a moment, her mind racing, trying to understand it. 'Well, I don't think… he is more useful than you,' she said hesitantly. 'But… what, so, you don't like that he's… gotten somewhere on a lack of… integrity? A lack of courage? I… rather think he's been quite courageous now. I'd be jittering in my boots, walking into the Ministry and signing myself up to spy on them.'

Sirius hadn't liked that. He was glowering at the corner of the room.

'You have to give him that, Sirius,' Hermione said, placating. 'You yourself said you trust his motivations. I mean, he's not just agreeing to come to meetings – he's agreeing to something huge!'

Sirius's glower had deepened.

'And apparently,' he muttered, 'he's very likable on sight.'

'What?'

Rather than respond – rather than give Hermione any clarity at all, Sirius just smoked. Suddenly very tired, Hermione sunk down on the bed beside him.

'I… didn't like him on sight,' Hermione tried.

'Oh no?' Sirius said, tone deceptively light. It was snide – mean. An abrupt reminder of a man she'd known in in a preceding reality.

Hermione didn't shout. She didn't come out with another what? It was strange. It was what she was thinking she'd do, but she didn't, she just sat there, and felt sad. Finally and, it seemed, irritably, Sirius turned to look at her.

'You know what I wanted tonight?' Hermione said softly. 'I wanted you to look at me that way during the meeting. I wanted you to hold my hand. To put your arm around me.' She pressed her lips together and stared into gorgeous grey eyes. She didn't really believe he'd take her up on it. Somehow that made it easier to admit to: knowing he wouldn't do it. 'To look at me at all. To smile, and laugh, and be your usual self. That's what I was thinking. And you shutting me out hurt.'

Sirius turned his gaze down. He contemplated his cigarette, looking so pathetic… The deep, sad well grew in Hermione's chest. His hair fell down over the side of his face. Reaching out reflexively, Hermione tucked it back for him. Sirius stubbed out his cigarette, dropped the butt on the top of the box, and dug his fingers into his eyes. Hermione saw the crinkles appear as he rubbed them.

Her knees lifted, her heels catching on the ridged edge of the mattress. Hermione wanted to drop her head onto her knees, but she couldn't do it. She slid her arms around him and held Sirius to her, her knees moving to fit, one over his lap, one behind him.

There was no doubt Sirius had noticed what Hermione had when Brian was looking at her, but she didn't think what Sirius was feeling was jealousy. Or, not jealousy alone. There was something inside Sirius Hermione had long been able to see but would never manage to name. Not with one name, at least. She could suggest many. Guilt, darkness, self-disgust, a lingering horror, fear, loss, a yearning to be loved, turmoil, uncertainty, extreme suffering… It had sat far more deeply in him lately, but it was still there. Hermione didn't think it could ever go fully.

If she was being truthful, then it was probably something not unique to Sirius. Perhaps she'd known it all along, perhaps not, but a lot of that was in her too – in both of them. An insatiable need to have a connection. Even thinking of it now, consciously aware of it, and wrapped around someone who felt so substantial to her in so many ways, that didn't seem to cheapen their relationship.

Hermione gripped him to her and kissed the side of his head.

'I'm always the bad guy,' Sirius whispered.

'You don't have to be,' Hermione whispered back. 'And you don't deserve it most of the time. You're a good guy to me. You're a good guy to many.'

'I'm sorry…' Sirius breathed and Hermione clutched him tighter.

'Don't doubt me,' she whispered. 'I'm here, Sirius. I'm always here! This is where I want to be!'

A large, deep breath pulled into him. Sirius wrapped an arm around her, and Hermione stayed there for a long while, her head rested on his shoulder, her body wrapped around his.

Hermione didn't find sleep easily that night. When she finally did drift into a world of dreams she woke, gasping, from it only a short while later with the unsettling impression of lurking, thick black shadows and a silent, unspoken experience of deep pain.

The arm around Hermione tightened, Sirius rousing with a sleepy breath.

'Yuokay?' he murmured.

Hermione tucked herself more closely in against his chest. He felt like a warm bulwark against the world beyond. One that actually pressed a languid kiss on the top of her head.

'I'm fine,' she whispered. It didn't take Sirius long to start breathing deeply and slowly again, snuffling a little into his pillow. His torso expanded and contracted continuously against Hermione and under her arm; the sound of him sleeping a peaceful comfort. She'd seen him shoot awake and upright in an instant when disturbed, but a sleeping Sirius regardless seemed endearingly vulnerable. And reassuring. There was nothing to worry about if Sirius was sleeping through it.

When Hermione woke again in a drizzly dawn Sirius was already awake. He was watching her openly… as though he'd taken what she'd said the night before thoroughly to heart: watching her very affectionately. He lifted a gentle hand and swept tendrils of Hermione's hair out of her face and away behind her ear. Hermione smiled at him, a tingly, watery warmth filling her, slowly but steadily, from toe to neck.

He was impressive. Hermione felt it like a swollen heart. It wasn't just all the obvious things – his seemingly endless list of skills and abilities… It was this. Before she'd experienced it, Hermione would never have been able to imagine Sirius like this with any woman. And the better she got to know him, the more remarkable the great tenderness in him seemed.

Author's Note

Bit more plot, bit less building relationship this time! Apologies!

I haven't put these as music suggestions, as they don't fit the tone of the chapters. So I'll have them here as... music recommendations: if you want a bit of insta-music-background for the new character.

Scatterlings of Africa, Johnny Clegg and Juluka; and Third World Child, Johnny Clegg and Savuka

Responding to reviews

Dear Amy,

It's lovely to hear from you again, and what high praise! Having re-written the vast majority of these chapters from their original form, it's amazing to hear that they read as well-written! I did try, and I'm glad it's worked out haha!

Enjoyable reading! And happy 2022!