Disclaimer: I do not own or have any rights to Harry Potter.

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Chapter 24: Alive

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Hermione felt the adrenaline pass through her as she held onto Sirius as he wound his way down a path alongside the lake, she could just make out the shapes of trees as they passed by. Soon however Sirius started to slow and he pulled into a small clearing next to the lake.

Hermione climbed off the bike and took off her helmet, Sirius followed her actions and grinned at her. "So, what did you think?" he asked.

"I think I could live with it," Hermione answered keeping a straight face.

"So you enjoyed it then?" he asked pulling her closer.

Hermione nodded. "Very much so," she said quietly before closing the gap between them, wrapping her hands around Sirius neck as he deepened the kiss. As the kiss grew more intense Hermione felt Sirius hands begin to move up and down her back before he slipped them under her shirt repeating the action, skin agaist skin. Hermione allowed him to explore slightly before breaking the kiss and looking into his eyes. He smiled somewhat sheepishly at her but did remove his hands from under her shirt

"You can't tell me you brought me all the way out here just for that?" she asked him.

Sirius smiled and planted a kiss on the tip of her nose. "No but if it was it would have been worth it."

Hermione silently agreed, it seemed the longer she spent with Sirius the better the time became. She smiled at him and he stepped back slightly slipping his hand in hers and leading her around the edge of the small cove. When they reached the end Sirius helped Hermione up onto a higher embankment and told her to close her eyes as she reached the top. Hermione did what she was told and let herself be guided by Sirius. Gradually a pair of warm hands covered her closed eyes from behind and Sirius turned her slightly. Without another word Sirius removed his hands and Hermione opened her eyes.

Hermione had never seen anything as beautiful as she looked over the lake, Sirius wrapping his arms around her from behind, holding her tightly against him. Far across the expanse of dark water, atop a high cliff stood Hogwarts in all its glory, the stars shining above, the stone walls lit by the soft glow of the half moon. Sirius and Hermione stood in silence for a while enjoying he stillness of the night air.

Hermione turned in Sirius' arms. "It's wonderful, how did you find it?" she asked.

Sirius smiled gently. "We found it one full moon, Moony lead us here," he looked back at the castle over Hermione's head. "I came here a lot at the end of sixth year." Hermione looked up at him sympathetically but he just smiled slightly at her. "Haven't had a reason to come back till now."

"Thank you Sirius, for sharing this with me," she said sincerely.

"You're welcome," he replied drawing her in for another kiss.

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A couple of hours later Hermione and Sirius crept back to the Gryffindor tower, unseen under James' invisibility cloak. Upon entering the common room the pair sat on the sofa in front of the fire warming themselves after their early spring outing.

Hermione snuggled into her niche at Sirius side and rested her head on his chest while the boy next to her idly stroked his fingers through her soft curls.

The following morning the head boy and girl kept every fellow Gryffindor quiet while Remus snapped a picture of the content couple.

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A few days later Hermione wandered down to the common room in the morning to find Sirius waiting for her.

"Where are the others?" she asked when she walked over to him.

Sirius grinned. "Remus dragged them off early, he's always pretty keen to get down to the Great Hall today, always gets plenty of owls from his family today."

Hermione looked slightly confused, she knew it wasn't Remus' birthday and couldn't figure out the significance of the day. Her attention was however drawn to Sirius hands which were presently placed suspiciously behind his back. Sirius noticed her questioning gaze and smiled at her.

"Happy Easter," he said revealing a box of chocolates and handing them to the shocked witch in front of him, a look of understanding dawning on her face.

"Thank you Sirius, but you didn't have to get me anything " she replied giving him a hug.

"I wanted to, I enjoy spoiling you," he said pulling back slightly from her hug to give her a sweet kiss.

A pair of first years interrupted the couple as they came down from their dorms; Sirius chuckled at the blush that crept up on their faces as they walked hurriedly out through the portrait.

Hermione noticed a large box containing an Easter egg at Sirius' feet. "Who's that one for?" she asked curiously.

Sirius grinned. "Now who else would that be for other than my dear friend Moony?" he asked.

Hermione laughed as Sirius picked up the box, slipped his hand through her and headed for the Great Hall.

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Later that week Hermione, Lily and Remus were drawing up study timetable for their NEWTs while sharing the last of Remus' Easter horde. Hermione was completing one for herself as well as one for Sirius, Lily was busy with hers and James', while Remus had volunteered to do Peters. The silence was welcome at the small table in the common room, but its occupants were shocked that it actually continued with the arrival of James and Sirius.

After five minutes of silence Remus finally caved. "Ok, I give up, the only time you two are this quiet is when you are sleeping, what gives?"

"Moony," James replied. "Sirius and I have a problem."

Remus raised an eyebrow bidding his friend to continue, ignoring the amused significant look that passed between his female companions.

"We can't come up with any good pranks, we've basically done everything we can think of and everything else just isn't funny."

Sirius nodded; taking over after James finished. "We even went to the library," he said this in a way that it would be odd for students to actually use the library regularly.

Lily stood and walked over to James. "Maybe this would be a good time for you to stop your pranks. You've had seven years of fun but you're about to graduate, maybe you should just leave it be."

James pondered this but Sirius was shaking his head. "What about what Snape did in Hogsmead, or Malfoy attacking Hermione again, should we just sit back and let them get away with it?" he asked

Hermione spoke up next. "And what's going to happen when they seek revenge for that prank? It's a cycle Sirius; maybe you should break it, hmm?"

Remus nodded in agreement. "Besides when you beat them in the final that would be enough, right Prongs?"

James nodded. "I think they're right Padfoot, besides NEWTs are coming up too."

Sirius glanced at Hermione and she instantly knew what the problem was and laughed slightly. "You don't have to defend my honour, you do know that don't you?"

Sirius pouted and put on his puppy-dog-eyes. "But I like to, pleeeeeeaaaaasssssseeeeeeeeeeee."

Hermione grinned. "Just beat them in the final."

Sirius nodded. "Anything for you m'lady."

Remus rolled his eyes at the sappiness and made similar faces to James and Lily that Sirius had made to Hermione at the start of the school year.

"Hey," Sirius said pointing at Remus with a mock glare. "I saw that," he said leaping up before proceeding to chase the werewolf around the room.

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The following weekend was a scheduled Hogsmead trip so the group made their way down to the Entrance Hall after breakfast, Hermione walking next to Sirius while he talked to James about their up and coming match against Slytherin. Once they were outside, they stood and gathered with the rest of the students preparing to go to the wizarding village.

Hermione's gaze fell on the small village in the distance as her friends continued to joke around her. Something was wrong; she concentrated her gaze and moved away from Sirius to get a better look. She gasped and her hands flew to her mouth as she could just make out flashes of coloured light emit from the small town as smoke begin to rise from the buildings.

"Remus!" she called, seeking his heightened vision.

The others turned to her as Remus moved to stand next to her, looking intently in the direction of her gaze. Instantly he turned and ran past his friends startling them as Sirius moved to stand next to Hermione.

"Professor McGonagall!" Remus called as he reached the Transfiguration Professor. "Hogsmead! I think there's something wrong."

His shocked Professor moved swiftly to the others and looked over to the village which now had clear pillars of dark smoke rising from it.

"Everyone inside," she ordered the students who were now all staring horrified at the village. No one protested and made their way back into the castle. Sirius grabbed Hermione's hand to pull her along with him but she didn't budge from her spot, her eyes still transfixed on the scene in front of her.

"Hermione," he said moving to stand in front of her, blocking her sight from the village. "Let's go inside, theirs nothing we can do, Aurors will get there soon enough."

Hermione focused her eyes on Sirius nodding letting him lead the way back inside, the war was starting to pick up and Hermione had never felt so helpless.

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Over the next few days Hermione found herself in the library pouring over a mountain of books. So far she hadn't found anything that could help her in her quest to tell her friends, she was beginning to wonder if she should just tell them, there seemed no way around the problem of affecting the future if she revealed where she was from.

While Hermione was in the library Sirius was sitting with James, Peter and Remus under the tree next to the lake. Sirius was presently deep in thought while his friends had been talking and they were now concerned by Sirius lack of participation in the conversation.

"Padfoot," James said catching his friends attention. "Where were you mate, you seemed a million miles away."

Sirius stared at the other for a moment before answering. "I was thinking about Hermione."

The others looked at each other, that much was obvious. Sirius noted the glances but ignored them.

Remus seemed to remember their conversation from the party however and turned to serious. "Sirius, what are you planning on asking Hermione when we graduate?"

Sirius blushed slightly. "I was just going to ask if she wanted to move in with me, see how things go you know." The others nodded and Sirius continued. "I can see myself with her for life guys, I can see us getting married, having children together, is that odd? I mean we haven't been together long."

James shook his head. "Sounds to me like you're in love mate."

Sirius stared at James in shock, this he hadn't thought about, in fact he was surprised that he hadn't noticed it and that he needed it pointed out to him.

Remus smiled at him. "Are you going to tell her?"

Sirius smiled. "That my dear friend, I am planning right now in here," he said pointing to his head. "It's going to be perfect."

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In their Potions class the following morning Professor Sabbath asked for a volunteer to collect their essays that were due in. What surprised all the Gryffindors in the room was when Monique got up and started to collect the papers, it was a very rare occurrence indeed when a Slytherin volunteered.

Sirius eyed the witch warily as he handed over his paper, Slytherins usually only did things to benefit themselves and was very curious as to why Monique was acting like this. The witch gave him a smile as she took the paper and continued on her way, unnoticed by the other students when she cast a small charm on two particular papers, copying the script onto two spare pieces of parchment.