A/n: Sorry for the terribly long wait must have been dreadful! Since the 22nd! Any who . . . Tad confused right now. Um, I guess on with my story, longer and extended to my absence over the following two and a half weeks!

This chapter is dedicated to my aunt and mum, for being so helpful and guiding! If you were wondering, they have been a big help here with this story. I also dedicate this to SilverFoxBlueFox, Rane2920072, and Padfootz-luvr for being such wonderful reviewers!

Much Love, Mwah

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Chapter 11: Vindicated

"So turn up the corners of your lips. Part them and feel my fingertips. Trace the moment, fall forever. Defense is paper-thin. Just one touch and I'd be in too deep now to ever swim against the current.
So let me slip away"

-Dashboard Confessional

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

It had been difficult now. Life had gone on from there, but it had slowed down. Hermione would wake up late in the morning, eat a late breakfast and go to work at the usual time. When she got home, which was always late, she would eat, take a shower, and go to bed. She would rarely go out on the weekends and keep to herself. She was unintentionally avoiding Sirius.

He was noticing this and decided that she was being silly. He knew why she was avoiding him. It didn't really upset him. But he thought it was going to hurt her in the end.

It may not have upset him, but it hurt him. Why would she just avoid him?

Never making eye contact was a big one. She would never ever look at his face directly. She had been cold and uneasy. Everyone else was use to her little bouts of avoidance, because since she had lost him, she would do it often, every occurrence was shorter and took longer for it to happen. She was slowly healing the loss.

"Hermione could you pass me the jam?" Sirius asked her one morning at breakfast. She slowly handed the jar to him, never lifting her face to him. As she did this, Sirius continued to stare at her face, hoping beyond hope she would look up.

She didn't. She put the offensively cold jar in his hand and went back to eating. Sirius had had enough. He stood up from his chair and walked over to her. He pulled her chair out from underneath the table, and knelt on one knee in front of her.

He looked up are her face and for the first time in a while, she made eye contact with him. Those cold and gray eyes, full of seriousness, "I've had enough of you just moping around. Hermione I think what you're doing is wrong. Stop doing this to your self. Just let him go. Let him slip away."

With that he stood from his spot. He walked to the door, put on his robe, cost, and walked out the door. He walked out into the bitterly cold air, hoping what he had said would get her out of her façade. The wind tickled his nose as he made his way around, clearing things a bit.

Hermione continued to sit in that position for a few minutes thinking over what he had just said. 'Sodding ass.' She was upset because even though she was pushing away, she didn't want her true feelings to be known. 'How stupid could I have been, of course it was obvious! Look at the way I was treating him!'

Now mad at herself, she cleaned up her flat, slowly and made her way to work a bit early to stop to get some hot chocolate. It always made her feel slightly better when she didn't have to make it for herself, or when it wasn't made with magic.

She slowly made her way to the booth to enter the Ministry of Magic, and made it to work almost a whole half an hour early.

He continued his escapade over London, till he wanted to make his way into Diagon alley, just for the sake of, he could.

He entered the old pub, and by now everyone and their mother knew that Sirius Black was alive and well. Not only that but he was not the murderer they thought he was five years ago.

Few people turned their heads; one even introduced himself and apologized for what had happened. Sirius did not care though, he said thank you, but it did not make anything better. He made his way around to Weasley Wizard Wheezes. He stopped in to see that Molly was manning the fort. Her old age was showing now, the death of half of her family was weighing greatly on her, it was obvious. He had a few of their butterbeers, better then The Three Broomsticks. It was really a kid drink, but why forget?

"Sirius dear, how's it goin'? Have you settled down? Found a job? Anything?" Molly said, sitting down at a table with Sirius.

"I don't have to work for the rest of my life! Between my family money, the money the ministry gave me for false accusations, and a bunch of other things, I'll be set for good." He sighed as if it was hard but then Molly and him shared a laugh. "How are things going on here? Still running good?"

Molly smiled brightly, "Almost never better. Things are just beginning to smooth over now that we've all had some time to heal." Apparently, she was still broken too. Sirius grimaced at this, but not so Molly could see. He didn't want her to be suspicious of him. "So what brings you around here?"

"I came for a visit, just to get a good breath, I have recently been asked if I want to sell my parents house, you know? I was going to make my way over to Gringotts to get some money for a new wardrobe, all that hoppy-cock, should be good." Sirius looked out the front window, a lot of people walked in and out as he sat on that stool he decided to sit in after Molly's attention was pulled away. He watched all the people. So oblivious and different, how . . . Normal.

Not used to normal yet, I guess.

Hermione sat through her day of work or trudging was more like it, mainly thinking of what Sirius had said. She was perturbed about the way he had just walked out. Just left her there like a child being punished.

She made no notice to the current flow of people walking in and out of her office, talking to her. The only thought was Sirius saying 'let him slip away.' She thought it cruel at first, for Sirius to be saying that to her. He had no business doing that. She had thought about it harder. Was he doing for him or for her? If he was saying it for her, should she really let the only man she had ever truly loved go? She hadn't even thought she was ready. Could she have been?

She was not ready to let go.

Sirius had moved out after that. He had moved in to his old house, number twelve Grimmauld Place. He had left Hermione alone. Even though she was glad to be alone, she had a cold felling, not having someone to wake up to in the morning, not having someone to have meals and conversations with.

Hermione had shied away from her friends into March. Even though she was there for the birth of Ginny and Harry's new baby girl, which they named Lily Charlotte. She kept to herself, and stopped inviting Remus over for their usual time together. She became enveloped with her loneliness and with that lost thought of Draco. She would get owls from her friends, telling her that they wanted to see her, hear from her, but she never responded.

Once, on her way home from work, she stopped in her favorite bookstore. It was a store in Diagon Alley, far from the Weasley's store, so she wouldn't have a chance of seeing them. She walked into the back and a thought ran though her head, 'If I could only talk to him.' She yearned to her that smooth voice that she was to be married to. Then a thought came to her . . . What is she could save Draco like she saved Sirius? She went to the back of the store, where she had found those select books she had the answer for getting Sirius back.

She decided to purchase these books this time and bring them home. She got home, showered, dressed, made some hot chocolate, and sat down with her new big books. They were not new, but to her they were. They were old and bound with leather. Falling off in areas. She flipped back to where she had found the information, where her notes were taken from. She was looking through the first book, and found nothing. She picked up the other book she had bought, and found an interesting excerpt:

". . . It true that the veil between the two worlds, Mortal and Non, is the thinnest on October the 31st, Halloween night. This bit of time is an opportunity to speak with and see ones who have moved on, to a more peaceful life which is the after life . . ." Hermione scowled, why did it have to be so far away? This excerpt continued on for a while talking about the two worlds, and about them, and it talked about communication, and how to do it. Finally she came across one line that she almost cried over, ". . . It is possible the Equinoxes are another period of time where this same access is possible."

Hermione continued to stare at her answer. She might have another chance to see him, to talk to him. She thought, when was the next Equinox? March 21st. That's only in a week! How was she supposed to do this?

The books also stated that the Sun would pass over the equator at exactly 9:49 P.M. on the 21st of March 2006. 'Great!'

Hermione was so excited, but she hadn't realized that she had forgotten, she would only get to talk to him.

The week seemed to go by so slowly, Hermione was ready to cut off her fingers in anticipation. She smiled her was through it though. On the night before the twenty-first, Hermione set up her living room with candles, incense, and pillows. She had drawn the curtains so she wouldn't have any light what so ever in the room, other then the lit candles and the red amber of the incense.

As her day of work went on, she continued to stare at the clock, waiting for it to hit eight thirty so she could go home. Unfortunately, it was only seven. She hit her head on the desk, waiting for time to pass. Finally, time did pass, and she flew out the door and apparated to her flat, wasting no time, she ran in to her room, got into some comfy clothes, and lit all the candles and incense in her living room, extinguishing all the unnatural light in the flat.

Hermione then picked up one stick of incense, and created a circle, once it had turned nine forty-seven. She sat in the center of the circle she had created and thought long and hard of Draco, his voice, his hair, his eyes, body, and personality. She had pictured him in her head. She called for him.

A light wind passed by, and blew out all of the candles but the one in the circle with her, which illuminated her face. She opened her eyes and called,

"Draco?" She started to get scared, when a smooth voice whispered in her ear.

"Do not worry your self, Hermione." She whipped around too not see Draco, but Severus Snape. He stood there, this time not with the loathing he had for her in his classroom, but the kind of sympathy of a friend. "What you have come looking for, you will not find."

Hermione became a bit misty at these words, "Wa -- . . . What do you mean?" Her voice a bit more high pitched then usual.

Severus Snape sat himself across from her in the circle Hermione had created. Looking deeply into her toffee eyes. "You have come looking for Draco have you not?" She nodded, "He has been passed away far too long to be seen ever again. The only place you would be able to see him again after such a long period of time would to be through the veil, which he did not go through, such as Black." Hermione leaned forward, over her crossed legs, sobbing. "Don't cry though Hermione, You know all he ever wanted for you was to be was happy. Everybody knows that."

Hermione looked up and rubbed her eyes, "Everybody?"

Severus smiled, "Yes, everybody is here, but I was the one who was chosen to speak with you."

Hermione smiled at this, she did not know why though.

"Hermione, I want you to know that you have suffered a great deal. I know you know that, but I wanted to point that out to you." Snape leaned forward and took hold of her hand, "You know that Draco wants you happy. When I first arrived in the after life, Draco was very distraught. He was upset that you would die unhappy and become a ghost, not able to live on with out him. He soon had to leave after that, as will I. He never wanted you to be alone and unhappy, which is why you wanted to see him again?"

"Yes, but I need closure, I need to see him!" She cried.

Severus grimaced, "I'm sorry there is nothing I can do there, but I can leave with the fact he did love you, but he wanted you to let him go."

Hermione looked up into those once cold eyes, now warm, and thought of what Sirius had said. Not only did Sirius say it, but so didn't Draco. All he wanted for her was for her to be able to live without him.

"Thank you Severus. Please do let everyone know that I love them, and I hope to see them soon, but not too soon." They shared a smile and a hug, and Severus walked out of the circle and disappeared.

Hermione took the pillow he had sat on and hugged it. It was cold. Hermione cried that she had hoped she would see the man, who widowed her, but did not. He was gone forever. There was only one way for her to see him again and that would be for her to die happy, but she did not know how to come to this. She was unhappy because she was basically lonely. She needed someone who could understand. Even though she did not want someone else.

The next day, Hermione got an owl from Remus. It was an invitation to a birthday party for Jacque, seeing her birthday was April 4th.

Hermione,

As you know Jacques Birthday is coming up and even though I have yet to see you in a while, I would like for you to come, seeing she likes you so much. I hope that I could meet up with you and get your opinion on some things. I wish I could see you because you have been so distant. Please respond. Below is the information to the party:

Name: Jacque Lupin

When: Saturday April 1st Noon-whenever

Where: Our house, 'Lupin cove' (for those who floo)

Respond as soon as possible by owl

Love

Remus

Hermione immediately felt guilty for leaving one of her closest friends in the dark of her feelings and her thought. She immediately wrote a letter telling Remus she would come visit and tell him the news of what was going on in her life that made her so isolated.

The time between the sending of the invitation and the actual party was spent quickly. Hermione had worked her way back into everybody else's lives. Not so much into Sirius's though, due to his 'coming back to life.' Everything went back to normal, and the only person who knew about Hermione's Equinox was Remus. It amazed a lot of people how they became best of friends over the past few years. Hermione had waned from Harry and Ron toward Remus and sort of, Sirius. She liked having older men to talk to her, other then people her age.

The day of the party, Hermione arrived an hour early to help Remus set a few things up, while Jacque slept. There was not much but a buffet table, and some streamers of Jacques favorite colors, purple and blue. Once people started to show up, it did not matter much. People were laughing and it was fun all around, They all had birthday parties for all their kids, but Remus wanted one for an excuse to have Hermione come out of her flat, which she did thankfully. Everyone was glad to see Hermione again, especially Sirius, Harry, and Ginny. They were the most worried of what was going on, but Harry and Ginny had had a faint idea and Sirius knew.

Sirius had tried numerous times to engage into conversations with Hermione, but she always found a way to slip out of his grip. Finally, Sirius gave up and sat with Remus after the 'Happy Birthday' was sung and cake was passed out.

"I just don't get it Moony! The second I get her attention, she just gets trailed off into something else." Sirius stated exasperated.

Remus just shook his head, "You know she's still tense with you over Draco, you said so your self. Wait until you can get her alone. She properly wants to be left alone. Don't fret over it."

Sirius just leaned back in his chair, watching the brunette from his corner as she danced with Harry. She was happy there in this scene. He never caught his eye and she never noticed his hovering gaze on her, but Harry did.

Harry came over once that song was over and sat next to Sirius.

"What's bugging you?" Harry asked as he sat himself in Remus's vacated chair.

Sirius heaved a big sigh, and ran his hands through his hair, and in one breath, "Hermione"

Harry gave his godfather an almost knowing, but slightly taken aback look, "Well, um . . . what about her?"

Sirius caught sight of his problem, "Look at her. She rescues me, houses me, cares for me, and then starts to ignore me like a problem that wont go away. Then I move out and she wont even talk to me! About anything, just because I found out why she was ignoring me." He closed his eyes, then opened them to look at his godson.

Harry thought about it for a second and assumed Hermione had been upset because of Draco . . . again, "Well, Hermione has done this before, but maybe your part of the problem."

At first Sirius gave Harry a menacing look. Mad at Harry for accusing him of being part of Hermione's problem. Then he thought better of it. He thought about it for a moment, tilted his head, and gave Harry a knowing look.

"Maybe your right, but now what? What am I supposed to do?" Sirius leant forward and looked back at Harry, "Am I just supposed to walk out of her life? I mean come on. I spent like a month at her flat! Just living there. Plus . . . she saved my life." He said in a meaningful tone.

Harry just patted him on the back and went back to sit with his wife and Hermione, who were in deep conversation. Sirius just let his gaze follow Harry; soon it slipped over to Hermione for the millionth time that night.

Presents were given and the party was winding down. A few people had left early, due to personal issues. Ginny and Harry had to leave early because their new daughter was getting cranky as time slipped to six and seven o'clock. It was left down to Hermione, Ron, Sirius, Fred, and Remus. Ron and Fred had made their way out soon after the clock hit nine.

Hermione wanted to stay with Remus a bit longer, as did Sirius. They cleaned up a bit, did dishes, took out the trash, put all of Jacques new stuff in her room, and took down the steamers.

Sirius had gotten playful and wrapped a particularly long piece of purple streamer around Hermione as she laughed for him to stop. He continued to wrap to around her till the piece was spent and then came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her frame.

"I'm sorry."

Hermione's eyes widened, "You shouldn't be." Her voice became a whisper, "I should be though." She closed her eyes and put her hands over his and took in his warmth until Remus came back into the room.

They let go, and they made up, not noticing how much closer they would be. The three of them stayed with each other till the wee hours of the morning, when Sirius's head hit the table, it was a signal for them to go home.

Sirius left after Hermione had. She apparated home, whilst Sirius went with old-fashioned walking. His house was rather far from Remus's but he didn't mind. As he walked, he could see the horizon becoming a violet to an almost fire orange. He could still see some stars in the sky. He saw his breath too. It was that cold that early in the morning. Once he had gotten tired of walking he apparated home. He slumped up his stairs to his second floor bedroom. He flopped on his bed and slept till two in the afternoon.

When he had woken, he showered and found a change of clean clothes to wear. He decided to stop in to see Hermione, and what she was up to for the day, seeing he knew she did not have work, is was Sunday.

Hermione was practically skipping around her kitchen and house, just happy that she had made up with Sirius. She hated knowing there was tension between her and other people, but would never do anything about it. She was sitting down, finally, looking out her window over London. As she watched, she sipped her tea. It warmed her up from the slightly cold breeze. It was still chilly enough to wear sweats, but not too cold.

As she sat, she hadn't noticed the first knock on her door, but the second one was more apparent. She got up and called that she was coming, she slowly made it over to the door, looking over to the clock it read, '3:30' Hermione had a mental freak out, 'I'm still in my pajamas!' but did not mind much. She opened the door to find Sirius standing there. Fashionably sensitive, but too cool to care. So he had that, 'I just woke up look.' With blue jeans and a white shirt. Hermione was a little embarrassed at her lack of clothing, which were shorts and a sweatshirt.

"Hi."

"Hello." Hermione shuffled back into her flat, and beckoned Sirius to follow her. They sat down at her kitchen table, and Hermione summoned two cups and conjured up a pot of steaming hot tea, for them to share. "What brings you around here?"

Sirius gave her a smile, "What I can't visit you? I mean we practically lived together for a month mind you."

Hermione smiled as she sipped her too hot tea, but didn't mind, "I know, you can visit me, but you have come here for a reason."

Sirius rubbed his warm cup; "I want to take you out today, not a date, so don't freak out, just a 'we both don't belong to a family type relationship, so we needed something to do.' Thing"

Hermione laughed at this comment, for it was true. Besides her and Sirius, everyone had Family to be with.

"Well, where would you like to go, Mr. Black?" Hermione asked, taking yet another sip of her tea, while watching Sirius mill this over in his head.

"I don't know, would you like to go to Hogsmeade? Just, hang out over there for the day?" He asked without lifting to meet her eyes.

Hermione smiled at the idea, "Yeah, I'd like that."

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

A/n: Okay so here it is, the one-week-holder-offer thing, I hope you enjoy, and please don't flame me. This took a lot of effort and time for me, I don't know why though. My mom helped me with the apparition part where Hermione sees Severus, so thank her for that.

Please review!

I shall return by next Sunday, but am off by the following Tuesday. Please review, and wish me good luck on spotting a boy on the beach! Hahaha! Love you guys a lot!

REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!