Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the books' characters! They belong to J.K Rowling, so don't sue me!! I also don't own the line from U2's 'With or Without You'.

Summary: When Ron becomes engaged to Fleur Delacour, someone very unexpected shows Hermione that Ron may not be the guy for her after all

** *

Forbidden?

Chapter Seven: Original Sin

**

Hermione was halfway to the library, which had become her favorite brooding spot, early the next evening, when she collided into a solid wall.

"Head in the clouds, Hermione?" Hagrid teased.

She grinned. "Hey, Hagrid. What's up?"

Hagrid smiled. "Was just lookin' fer ya, 'Mione. Sirius - Professor Black, that is - wanted to speak to ya. Asked me to send you to his office if I could find you."

"Uh - ok," Hermione stammered, shocked out of her wits. Sirius wanted to see her??! "Thanks, Hagrid. I'll go over there."

She hurried down the corridor, her heart hammering and her head whirling incoherently. Why in God's name did Sirius want to see her so suddenly? And why just her? What was he going to say?

She couldn't quite suppress that seedling of hope and excitement inside her, though.

Reaching the door to Sirius' office, she stood there for a second, trying to gather some shred of control over herself. Then, hands trembling slightly, she reached up and knocked on the door.

He opened it almost immediately.

"Mione," his smile was genuine, but there was an intense expression in his eyes. "I'm glad you came."

She managed a smile. "What's up, Professor Black?"

He winced. "Don't," he begged. "Sirius will do."

"So what's up, Sirius?" she chuckled softly. "Where's Remus?"

"Down at dinner." Sirius locked the door of the office behind her and she stared at him, very surprised.

What on earth - ?

"I have something to tell you," he went over to his desk and stared down at his hands, cracking his knuckles like he always did when he was nervous.

In the pause that followed, she took the opportunity to study him carefully, and she could feel a strange wave wash over her and her throat tighten. He had taken off his robes, and was standing there in a white tee shirt and black pants. The tee shirt wasn't clingy, but fitted him so that every muscle in his stomach and shoulders and back were visible.

His hair was short and relatively neat, except for that trademark black lock of hair flopping across his forehead, giving him a very boyish appearance. He hadn't shaved that morning; so there was a very sexy, light stubble on his hard, square jaw.

Sexy? She gulped.

Since when had she considered Sirius, her best friend's godfather, ex- prisoner Sirius Black SEXY?

came that traitorous whisper in her head.

He glanced up then, and gave her that heart-stopping rakish smile.

"Do you have any idea what you do to me? You're driving me crazy, 'Mione. Don't look at me like that or we may both regret it."

She met his eyes, and knew instantly what he was saying. He was telling her that he was attracted her; that he wanted and needed her as much as she needed and wanted him. His eyes and tensed muscles told her that he ached for as much as she yearned for him.

The time for going back was long past.

"I don't know about you," she said softly, walking towards him and slowly running her hands up his arms to his shoulders and then winding her arms gently around the neck of his six-foot frame. "But I'm not going to regret anything."

Almost against his own will, his arms lifted to wrap themselves around her waist, drawing her so close to him that their lips were only a few inches away.

The Adam's apple in his throat sent gentle vibrations all the way to her arms as he swallowed hard, and she smiled, knowing that she had as much of an effect on him as he did on her.

"Oh, damn forbidden," he growled softly, and kissed her.

Her thoughts scattered wildly and she could barely think. He deepened the kiss, and she matched his need and passion with her own, all thoughts of Ron and Fleur and Harry flying out of the window.

Sirius might have stopped. As much as he wanted this, as incredible as this kiss was, he might have ended it before it was too late to go back. But when he gently eased his tongue through her soft lips and she uttered a low moan, he knew that he could never stop.

Finally, they broke apart, both staring into the other's eyes, mesmerized.

"Do you want this, Sirius?" she asked softly, seeing the uncertainty in his eyes.

"More than you'd guess," he raked a hand through his hair. "But - but you're sixteen, 'Mione! I'm seventeen years older than you are, I don't exactly have the best record, and what could I ever give you."

She smiled. "Do you know what I want?" she asked. "You, Sirius. Just you."

"Oh, you had me a long time ago," he growled, sighing. "The last thing I'd ever want would be to lose you, in any way, but I can't - I just can't be the original sin of a sixteen-year-old who's never been kissed."

But for someone who'd never been kissed, she sure did it well, he thought dryly.

"And what about you?" she countered. "You've said yourself that no one has ever made you feel like this. If I can be the original of your sins, why can't you be mine?" she looked at him intensely. "Don't you want to be?"

He groaned. "That's not a reasonable question." He muttered, making her laugh. Smiling slightly, he reached out for her and pulled her into his arms again, intense warmth and pleasure coursing through him at the feel of her so close, at the softness of her hair brushing his jaw, at the sweet, spicy taste of her lips as he kissed her again.

There was no way he could ever let this go.

"What if I told you I love you?" he asked slowly, his breathing shallow, when they broke the kiss again. "What if I told you I love you so much that it hurts to be away from you, that I ache for you all the time? What if I told you I love you so much that I would have thrown myself into Voldemort's whirlpool if it meant saving you?"

She stared at him, ecstasy and amazement shooting through every particle of her. He loved her! Sirius loved her.

"Then I'd tell you that I feel exactly the same way," she murmured against his lips. "Don't give up on this, Sirius. It won't happen to either of us again."

He knew that. He knew it would kill him to walk away, and it would kill her too. But that part of him that screamed right or wrong - that part of him that still remembered she was only sixteen - kept crying out at him.

"I don't know," he finally choked out. "I don't know, 'Mione." He gazed into her eyes and the words of a song that he had once heard floated into his head.

Softly, his voice only a whisper, he murmured that line: "I can't live . . . with or without you . . ."

** TBC.

**

A/N: A little shorter, but it's supposed to be this way. Next chapter will be up soon, and might be the last and conclusion of the story. Please review!!!