I Want the Fire Back

Summary: Hermione is obsolete – the War is over, Harry and Ron are busy, and she the mere Charms teacher at Hogwarts. When a presumably dead man comes back better than ever, she suddenly means everything... to him. SiHr

Rating: R for language, themes, sex, and whatever else may come out of my twisted little mind.

Disclaimer: It's not me who owns these characters or any plots associated with the Harry Potter books.

Chapter 15: Blink of an Eye

The morning after Christmas, Hermione was seated at the Weasley's kitchen table, still in her PJs, and deep in thought. Molly was the only other one up – she was in the kitchen washing dishes – and she had refused to take any help from the younger woman.

Bringing a finger to her lips, the salt of her skin slightly burned the chapped skin, but Hermione didn't even notice. She was so deep in thought; it was close to the way she had been in Hogwarts – completely unaware of her surroundings, or of people trying to get her interest. Even when the students had managed to get her attention, it was a very little bit, and she paid them little mind…

Sirius Black. Sirius BLACK. SIRIUS Black. SIRIUS BLACK. I'm going to marry Sirius Black. But this, sadly, was not just a solely happy thought for the young Miss Granger. In fact, she was quite scared about the whole ordeal. So soon… He's only been back for a couple of months… Frustrated, Hermione tore a hand through her tangled hair and set down her coffee cup, trotting up the stairs in dire need to speak to her best girlfriend.

"Gin?" she knocked lightly, peering into the crack in between the door and frame where it was left slightly open. She glimpsed Draco's blond hair, still tipped with red, as he turned and rolled from the bed, his eyes barely open.

"Yes, Granger?" he mumbled, sleep slurring his usually drawling voice as he rubbed a hand over his eyes.

"I need to speak with Ginny, Draco. Could you give us a minute?" Hermione said, hoping her voice was as earnest as she wanted it to be.

He merely nodded as he opened the door all the way. "Going to go drown myself in the shower…" he mumbled as he tripped over to the bathroom.

Rolling her eyes, Hermione closed the door behind her and entered Ginny's old bedroom. It was pretty much the same – same old comforters, pillows, and collection of romance novels gracing the shelves. Same old Ginny.

Perching herself on the edge of the bed, she shook her redheaded friend's shoulder.

"Hmm?" she whimpered, turning over to find not Draco, but Hermione.

"What's going on, 'Mione?"

"Gin, I need to talk to you… about Sirius."

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Sirius turned over on the couch, groping blindly for the warmth that had left him a few hours ago. Finding that she had not returned, and that he was indeed alone on the couch, Sirius sighed and sat up, running a hand through his disheveled (but charmingly so) ebony hair.

He had not slept well. The sleep itself wasn't what was bad; it was the fact that it had taken him nearly three hours to do so. His mind had been on overdrive, thinking about Hermione and if the question he had asked was right. Knowing he couldn't sort out this mess without a little help, Sirius jogged up the stairs and burst into Remus' room without knocking.

"Moony!"

Tonks squealed and fell from the bed, thankfully still clothed properly, unlike Remus, who was only wearing his boxers.

"Yes, Padfoot?" he growled as he helped Tonks to her feet and she glared at her cousin.

"I really need to talk to you," Sirius began, once again running his hand through his hair. He glanced at the couple and spoke again, "Tonks… could you maybe go… downstairs?"

Remus swore he saw his girlfriend's eyes flash red, but she nonetheless stomped down the stairs, but not before slamming the door behind her. The now brunette was a very jovial person – unless you happen to wake her up in the morning.

"She'll be fine in an hour," Sirius assured his annoyed friend, dismissing Tonks' anger as nothing as he flopped down on the bed.

Restraining himself from growling, Remus looked his friend in the eye and asked him just what was so bloody important.

"See, Rem… It's about Hermione and me…"

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"Ahhh," Ginny sighed thoughtfully as she leaned back on the bed, crossing her legs. "You think you're too young, then?"

"Well, no-!" Hermione began, "I… know I love him, with all my heart… He's the most beautiful person I know. It's just – well, he's only been back since the beginning of term – I mean, isn't that a bit fast?"

The only female Weasley child nodded as she scratched a thin freckled leg. "But 'Mione – I don't want to put it this way, at all… But look at Harry's parents… and Dean and Parvati," Ginny's gaze wavered slightly as she mentioned her two fellow Gryffindors. They had died the previous year during the final battle, and they had been happily engaged three months prior.

Upset at her friend for bringing them up, Hermione snapped, "That was different, Ginny! Both times Voldemort had been living and it was a time of war…"

Ginny, matching her friend's own anger, snapped back, "Why's it so different, 'Mione? Voldemort may be dead, but evil sure isn't just going to stop! You know Sirius isn't going to stay at Hogwarts for another year – especially now that he's so much younger. He'd rather be out there doing the things he did at that age… He'd rather be an Auror," Ginny paused as Hermione's expression darkened in fear, but also at the fact that Ginny was absolutely right. "Your time together can be cut short, just like anyone else's was," Hermione opened her mouth to protest, but the younger woman continued, eyes averted to the blanket she sat on, "Our lives are short, Hermione. It's the price of being good. It's the price that we will pay everyday of our existence because we are the people who fight for what's just. We are the people that die for the sake of our cause."

Against her will, images and memories of all the deceased friends and people Hermione had ever known flooded into her mind vividly.

Lily and James…

Dean and Parvati…

Cedric Diggory…

Luna Lovegood…

Lee Jordan…

Oliver Wood…

Mad-Eye Moody…

Angelina Johnson…

Sirius.

Sirius had died once already… A tear leaked from her golden brown eye in remembrance of them all, and she bit her lip to keep from sobbing. Remembering a previous conversation with Sirius, Hermione recalled something she had said. "If I ever lost you, I wouldn't live, Sirius. I'm to the point where life without you is not anywhere near what the tangible standard of living really is to me. I'm so bloody scared that something – someone – is going to take you away from me, and I'll be alone. I can't be alone. I spent five years alone, Sirius. I can't take any more. I need to know that you're here… you know, for good."

And he had responded with a simple question, one question to erase all uncertainty. "Do you doubt my love?"

Of course the answer had been no. How could it have been anything else?

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"Do you love her?" Remus asked after listening intently on his best friend's slight doubts.

"Of course, Moony!" Sirius spoke incredulously, running a hand through his hair again.

"If you run your hand through your hair one more time you're going to go bald," the werewolf snapped but smirked as his friend quickly jerked his hand away from head.

"What am I going to do?" Sirius whined, pulling at a bare thread on the comforter.

Pausing for a moment, Remus thought of a way that would get Sirius to realize his true feelings. He wanted to make sure his friend didn't make some idiotic mistake because his past was full of unattached sex and lack of commitment.

"Well, Padfoot… let's assert the situation here, hmm?" Lupin began, causing Sirius to snicker and mutter an "Of course" under his breath.

"You've asked your current girlfriend, Hermione Granger, to marry you. She said yes. Now you're doubting… what, her love for you?"

Sirius shook his shaggy hair, "No, dear God no. That woman must love me in order to put up with all of my shit."

Remus snickered, but quickly turned solemn again. "Then let me ask you one final thing… Could you live without her?"

Sirius, moving past how cliché the question sounded, how cheesy, didn't raise his eyes from the floor as he whispered in an emotional voice. "No…"

"Then what exactly are you so afraid of, Sirius? I'm sick of trying to guess – just tell me," Remus commanded, rolling his eyes.

Surprisingly, Sirius didn't hesitate to tell him what exactly he was so afraid of. He dove right into his reasons of the doubt that plagued his mind.

"I'm afraid that I'll ruin Hermione's future… I don't want her to marry me in this spur of a moment thing just to find out that she should have someone better than me… Someone who can treat her like she deserves…"

Remus sighed and patted his friend on the shoulder, deciding that there was only one thing to truly fix his friend's foolish doubts.

"I think you'll have to talk to her about this, mate."

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"Hey," Sirius smiled as he approached his fiancée slowly. Both had been heading for the stairs at the same time, and had consequentially run into each other.

"Hey," Hermione echoed.

"Can we…?" he trailed off nervously.

"Talk?" the brunette provided helpfully.

"Yeah…"

Silence.

"I-" they both started, but Hermione gave a small smile and told him to go on.

"I just wanted to say that I love you, Hermione Ann Granger, and that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I also wanted to say that I don't deserve you at all, but thank you so much… For just being you and loving me," black eyes darted anywhere but at the person he poured his emotions out to, afraid of the fact that he was giving her his heart and must now live with the fact that she had a permanent hold on him. I hope I didn't sound like a complete prat, rattling on about love and thanking her and the lot… Sound like a bloody horrible muggle romance, I do.

Hermione's smile wavered a bit as a tear leaked from her eye. "And I wanted to tell you, Sirius Lee Black, that I have never met someone in my entire life that could affect me like you do. There is no person on earth that I love as much as you, and I want to marry you with all my heart," here she grinned beautifully, "Life is just too short and you're just much too reckless to not marry so young," she finished and they both gave a nervous chuckle.

"So," Sirius began, taking both of her small hands in his, "Officially engaged then? Do I need to have Moony throw me a bachelor party?"

Hermione looked him in the eye, and something changed in her expression that Sirius did not understand.

"Before you do that, Sirius… I need to go home for a few days. I'm going to go back to stay with my parents, think things over, you know?" She had already told Ginny to tell the rest of her family that she had plans to meet her parents early that day, and that she was sorry that she had not been able to say a proper goodbye.

Obviously he did not know, for Sirius reacted as though she had struck him, and he looked almost betrayed as she scrambled to fix everything. She doesn't want to be with me… She's leaving me…

"I'm not saying no, Sirius!" He looked at her dubiously. "I already said yes, and I'm sticking to that." She stepped closer, so that they were eye-to-eye, with her looking up and him looking down. Finally, unable to ignore the honesty in her eyes, he gave a minute nod in acknowledgement.

"I just need to be alone… just for a little… But I'll see you on New Year's Eve, alright? I promise."

And with that, Sirius Black's fiancée apparated from the Burrow, leaving him alone the day after Christmas, with a mere lingering kiss on the lips.

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A/N: My grandma died today… so if you find this chapter weird, not up to par, or just plain crap - I'm sorry. But I did leave you with a bit of a cliffhanger, so review a lot and I promise to update ASAP.

This chapter is fully dedicated to Lola M. Kluck – an uproarious woman who held herself true to her God and her family.