Disclaimer: do I still have to do these? Alright, I own nothing that has been copyrighted and am not seeking monetary profit from authoring these fanfics.

Author note: Sorry about the uber long time in updating, but now its summer so I'm trying to pop more out as time wears on and I am sitting on my ass.

Keeping her eyes on Sirius' to focus, Hermione struggled to keep her balance as she landed on the ground in the end of an unusually rough apparition. Clearing her head, she watched as a now brunette Ginny stalked venomously up to a smirking Draco. Their conversation wasn't quite clear, but the blush creeping up Ginny's neck was. Noticing the rest of the group waiting somewhat patiently, they turned and walked back, but not before Draco could pinch her butt again.

Feeling Sirius at her side, Hermione turned to see his suggestive expression and quickly shut him down. 'Not a chance.'

'You wound me Herm,' he said, pointing to his heart. 'Right here.'

She could only shake her head at his antics, but her attention switched to Draco as he started to explain the events to take place. With his wand, Draco scratched out a crude glowing red diagram of the Manor on the ground. Motioning to the locations to illustrate his point, he gave the group their instructions.

'Professor Snape, you know your way around this place almost as well as I do, but I want you and Potter to enter from the hidden house elves door on the southeast side near the kitchens. Fred and Charlie, you'll come with Virginia and me to an unused entrance to the dungeons. Hermione and Sirius, you'll be entering from the forest. In a clearing exactly 79 feet west from here is a door hidden in a tree. It changes from tree to tree so I can't give you an exact location, unfortunately. Just go around to each tree and knock sharply 6 times. If it's the right tree, a door will open to stairs that lead down to a tunnel. The tunnel will take you to my old bedroom on the 3rd floor. Everybody got it?'

The group nodded as a collective except for Sirius who looked confused. 'How will Hermione and I know that it's the right clearing?'

Draco smiled. 'You'll hear a buzzing once you get close enough. Now remember, we're only here for quick surveillance; this is not a raid. I'll activate the coins when its time to go, but if by any chance you need to leave before then just use the coins as portkeys and they'll take you back to the Hogwarts grounds. If there aren't any more questions, let's set out.'

The rest of the small group crept out under the cover of darkness and stole across the grounds to the looming Manor, leaving Hermione and Sirius alone at the edge of the forest.

'Ready?' she whispered to him.

Sirius nodded, muttering to himself. 'Why do I always get the hard instructions with the most steps? I'm a nice guy, I don't purposely hurt people. Why is it always me?' He started walking but then stopped after taking a few steps. 'I just thought of something. How are we going to be able to see in the darkness without drawing attention to ourselves?'

'Just do the Lumos spell, but swish your wand to the left instead of the right, and then flick up instead of down. It'll illuminate your path, but you'll be the only one to see the light.' Hermione quickly demonstrated the proper wand movements for the older man.

Sirius could only marvel at the brunette in front of him as he successfully performed the spell. She was clearly in her element as a teacher. 'You think you're so smart, don't you?'

Hermione started off towards the west, carefully measuring steps as she went. 'Well, I did graduate top of my class you know.'

Sirius only followed her in silence, catching muttered numbers as they drifted back to him.

After a minute, a buzzing was heard. Hermione glanced back, sparkling eyes apparent in the light from his wand. 'We're close!'

A few more steps and the stumbled into the clearing, relieved that they hadn't gotten horribly lost. But the positive feeling dissipated as the couple realized just how many trees immediately circled the clearing.

'So we just have to knock on each tree until we get the right one?' Hermione asked, quite dismayed, her hair askew.

'It sounds so boring when you put it like that. We can put a wager on it to heat things up a bit, if you'd like?' Sirius's voice lowered a bit, sending a chill up and down Hermione's spine.

'What'd you have in mind?' she put forth, trying not to seem flustered.

It didn't take him much time to think up a worthwhile bet. 'How about the person who finds the door has the other person under their command for an entire 24 hours when we get back?'

'Even in the face of possible danger, you're still thinking about sex.'

Sirius shrugged, a charming smile on his face. 'It's what I do best.'

Hermione stepped right up to him, arms crossed and face stern. 'Sounds fine to me. Prepare to lose, Black.'

'I never lose Granger. Pick your tree.'

After carefully debating the options, Hermione chose a thick gnarled tree on the opposite side of the clearing, and watched as Sirius went no further than the oak directly beside him.

'You are a lazy prat,' she called over.

'Yes, but a sexy lazy prat at that. Knock on three, alright? One…two…three…'

Knocking sharply six times, Hermione was quite disappointed as her tree remained immobile, no hidden door appearing. She turned to choose another one but caught a glimpse of a widely grinning Sirius standing with hands in pockets next to his tree, which was now sporting a gaping hole, stairs just visible.

'You cheated!' she cried.

Sirius just laughed as he shook his head at her. 'How? You're just angry because you lost. And boy do I have plans for you.'

Hermione narrowed her eyes at him as she crossed the clearing. 'Like what exactly?' she asked as she passed him to the tree's opening.

'Nothing too bad, Mione, trust me. Ever worn a French maid's costume?'

She whirled on him, a scowl on her face.

Sirius could only chuckle as he stepped past her into the tree and onto the stairs. 'Ooh, you're feisty. I'll have to remember that.'

'Sirius Black, you are a no-good, cheating, tricky-'

He kissed her then, more to shut her up then relish the feel of her lips on his, though he had been captivated by them for the last 20 minutes. 'Mione, as much as I would love to listen to the sound of your voice, and that's not sarcasm, it's prudent to be silent in this tunnel. But if you're a good girl, I promise to give you a cookie when we get back.'

Stepping onto the stairs after him, Hermione got a coy look on her face. 'Can I trade in my cookie for something? Another sweet treat, perhaps?' Gently grabbing the back of his neck, Hermione kissed him again, fingers running through his curls to illustrate her point.

A little star struck, Sirius broke the kiss. 'You'll be the death of me, girl. You see the focus troubles I have when I'm around you?' He turned and made his way down the stairs.

Hermione smiled, and reaching out a hand to grab his shoulder, followed her lover down the steep staircase.


Reaching the tunnel, they followed it for an interminable distance until reaching another set of stairs. Slowly pushing up a trapdoor seemingly by a window, Hermione and Sirius waited until they were sure the coast was clear before they entered the room.

Once in the complete darkness of the hall, Sirius cast a silence bubble around them. 'According to Draco, Lucius' studies and business rooms are all down on the 1st and 2nd floors. Since everyone else is coming in from ground level, I think our best bet is to take the 2nd floor, alright?'

Hermione just nodded wordlessly, and let Sirius take the lead as he dissipated the bubble. Methodically taking steps as to lessen the noise, it wasn't long before they reached a set of stairs. Sirius was about to take a step when Hermione held him back and performed a silencing charm of her own on the stairs. She smiled at him and motioned for him to continue.

Carefully opening the first door they came to, the couple was intrigued to see that they had come to the first office, a spot rife with secrets. Hermione immediately set out towards the desk while Sirius took care of the cabinets.

'Anything?' he softly called over.

She shook her head. 'Appears to be just stuff about business. However, I did find a few maps that need to be unlocked in a bottom drawer that was under heavy locking charms, and so I'm copying all of them over, charms and everything so we can try to figure them out back at Hogwarts. But doesn't this seem a little easy to you?'

Sirius contemplated the situation for a minute. 'Not really. It's a little after happy hour, and Draco did disable the wards so the drunken bastards downstairs won't know a thing. Don't worry, Mione, we'll be fine. But I think it's time for anther room.'

Exiting the room, they rounded a corner and were a few steps down that hall when a noise was heard from the previous corridor, quickly getting louder. The couple froze, and quickly pressed themselves against the wall, hopefully cloaked by the darkness undiluted by moonlight. Soon, two drunken men stumbled laughing about something inane, too wrapped up in their drink to concentrate on anything more than placing one foot in front of the other.

Turning to Hermione, he kissed her cheek and then whispered. 'I'm going to follow them and see if they take me anywhere worth going.'

'I'm coming with you then.'

'No, it's not safe, and those two weren't drunk enough to not notice two people tailing them.'

Hermione grew exasperated quickly. 'You know we're not supposed to split up!'

'I'll only be gone a few minutes, and I don't want to have to worry about you. Just stay here and apparate out if you get in any trouble. I'll be fine; you'll be fine. I'll be back.'

She sighed, watching him slink into the darkness, soon becoming indiscernible from the night. Though on guard, she started mentally reciting all of the ingredients to the potions she learned in first year to pass the time.

Standing in the dark corridor, Hermione nervously scanned the area around her every few minutes. She was beginning to think that he would never come back when something grabbed her from the surrounding darkness. Biting down on her lip to stifle a scream, Hermione kicked out with all of the strength of the irrationally afraid while fumbling for her wand.

'Merlin!' came Sirius' pained whisper from near the ground. Hermione lit her wand, illuminating Sirius where he was crouched on the ground holding his left leg.

'I'm so sorry! It's just that you really scared me, and I didn't think, I just kicked.'

'It's alright,' he assured her quietly, slowly getting to his feet. 'Kind of reminiscent of that time you hauled back and kicked me when you and the gang were in your third year.'

'That's not fair!' Hermione protested. 'You were this escaped maniacal murdering prisoner. I thought you were going to kill us all. Beside, you scared the hell out of me. Do you even remember what you looked like when you escaped?'

Sirius laughed lightly, memories of past shoulder-length hair and gaunt features flooding back to him.

'You looked like the living dead, or even worse. You smelled pretty bad too.'

This resulted in another laugh from Sirius, taking the edge off the situation. But before he could anything, the coins in their pockets heated up very quickly, signalling that it was time to leave. Stepping forward, he kissed Hermione's forehead, prodding her to leave. 'Go. I'll see you in a minute.'

Smiling, she reached into her pocket and grasped the coin. Feeling the familiar tug behind her navel, she disappeared, Sirius quick to follow.


After feeling her feet hit solid ground, Hermione stuffed the coin into her pocket, and waited for Sirius to appear. When he did, she was about to slip her hand into his under the cover of darkness when Draco motioned to the now reassembled group to head back up to the castle.

Draco and Ginny fell back to walk with Sirius and Hermione at the back of the group.

'Find anything interesting?' Draco asked.

'Yeah, Sirius and I found some maps that may prove to be beneficial once unlocked. I copied them over so they wouldn't be missing. No use announcing that we were there before the second group goes in later.' Hermione's quiet voice almost faded into the night.

'Come across any unsuspected visitors?' Ginny sounded intrigued as she changed her hair back to its naturally vivacious red. 'We almost ran into a pair, but they were too drunk to notice if we'd run across their paths naked and screaming.'

'Which I wanted to try, but Ginny shut me down.' Draco put on a mock-sad face. 'Such a party-pooper she is.'

Hermione just laughed at the couple's rendition of the dangerous events that had occurred. 'They came by our way too, but like you said, they were way too out of it. Sirius fallowed them for a bit to make sure they weren't up to anything, but it was fine.'

'Are you guys coming with us for 'milk and cookies?'' Ginny asked.

'Or a stiff drink as I'd call it?' Draco added, threading his fingers with hers.

Sharing a look with a still silent Sirius, Hermione shook her head. 'I think we'll call it a night and just catch up with you all in the morning.'

Draco snickered and threw Sirius a dirty look as Ginny dragged him like a child up the hill towards the castle.

'You really do have a one-track mind, Sirius,' Hermione muttered.

He flashed a smile. 'You only encourage it thought.' He hesitated. 'You're…not mad at me about before…are you?'

She reached for his hand, and stroked it in soothing circles with her thumb. 'Of course not. You were just trying to protect me, and it's not like we were in real danger again. If you left me alone on a battle field, well, that would be a different story all together. But shouldn't I be asking you that question? I mean, I was the one who physically abused you.'

Sirius' smile only grew larger. 'Yes, but you can kiss it better.'

'Then we better get up to the castle, don't you think?'

'I do indeed. Last one there is a cockroach cluster!' Sirius took off towards the castle at a run, while Hermione just groaned.

'Not a race, you idiot.' She called after him. 'What are you, 6?'

'6 and a half,' he called back.


The next day, the reconnaissance group got together to share their findings, which were not much besides Hermione's maps and the odd coded document. Hermione promised to take them back to the research group for analysis.

Stretching, Draco got up from the table. 'I just hope we have better luck tonight or else we'll just have to keep going back until we get something of substance.'

A loud bell sounded in the room, signalling lunch in the staff dining room.

Once there and having grabbed some sandwiches, Hermione was joined by a smiling Ron.

'How are you, Mione?'

'I'm great, thanks. How about you?'

'Great, great. Busy, but great.'

An awkward silence formed between the two. Hermione was desperately searching for conversation topics that weren't off limits between them, something that she'd never needed before with Ron. If there hadn't been anything to say, he usually would have done something stupid for her to argue with him about. She was almost at her wit's end when Ron spoke up.

'Hermione, have you been out with anyone since we broke up?' he asked shyly.

Confused, she shook her head. 'No.'

'Are you going out with anyone now?'

Realizing that it was still best to keep her and Sirius a secret, Hermione shook her head again. 'Why?'

'Excellent.' A smile spread over his face. 'I've got the perfect person in mind for you.'

'Wait, what?' But before she could say anything else, Hermione felt herself being dragged over to a corner where Bill and Charlie were quietly conversing.

The older Weasley brothers looked up when Ron and Hermione arrived, an identical smile appearing on their faces.

'Haven't seen you two very much these last few days, little bro.' Charlie clapped him on the shoulder. 'Hermione, what have you been up to?

'Mostly research,' she said, offhandedly. 'Just relaxing now, trying to shake out my writer's cramp.'

Charlie's grin just grew wider. Seeing this, Ron grabbed Bill and started to pull him away. 'Bill, I need you to help me…do something…away…from here.' As he propelled a very confused eldest Weasley child away, Ron called over his shoulder. 'Oh by the way Charlie, Hermione likes dragons!'

Shaking his head, Charlie just laughed. 'What was that all about?

Hermione groaned, figuring out Ron's plan. ' I think I know. Ron is happy that we're friends again, and is trying to be all buddy-buddy in setting me up with people. I guess he wants me to be part of the family, and he sees that you're single, and immediately makes a connection. To him, Hermione Charlie = happy times for everyone. I love him, but he's a prat sometimes.'

'That little brother of mine. I guess the age difference means nothing to him.'

Hermione blushed with her little secret. 'Age doesn't matter to everyone, though.'

Charlie nodded. 'Agreed. But Hermione, I think you're absolutely gorgeous and right on, but you're really not my type.'

Hermione's face split into a huge smile. 'I am so relieved you think that! You're not really my type, and I kind of have my eye on someone else.'

Charlie held out his hands. 'So we part as friends?'

'Absolutely. Now I'm off to tell Ron to stop muddling around in my love life. See you later.'

Stalking around venomously, she realized that Ron had quickly left the room when she was joined by Sirius.

'What was that about?' he asked. 'You look like you're ready to kill something.'

'I am. And its name is Ron.'

Sirius laughed at her. 'What has he done now?'

Hermione looked at him and then around the room. Shaking her head, she pulled him outside into the hall. 'Ron's trying to set me up with his brothers.'

'What?'

'Ron has been trying to set me up with his brothers. Right now it was Charlie, and good thing he's not interested. Who's next, Fred?'

Sirius grabbed her arms to stop her from pacing. "Stop it. You're making me anxious. You'll just have to inform Ron that, though you appreciate his intentions, you're fine on your own and are not looking for romantic companionship at this point in your life.'

Hermione looked up at him, lines still formed in her forehead from the frowning. 'Do you think that'll work?'

'If not, you can just tell him that your break-up turned you off guys forever and you've become an avowed lesbian.'

The frown lines smoothed out a bit as Hermione tried to hold back a giggle. 'But then how do I explain our relationship when we decide to make it public?'

Sirius waved her off. 'Details, details. We'll worry about it when we come to that point. Now, I propose we retire to your room so I can distract you.'


'Rise and shine, my love. No more lounging around!' A clothed Hermione walked by the bed, giving her boyfriends a little shake.

'Do I have to get up?' Sirius groaned.

Hermione swatted at his butt hidden under her sheets. 'Yes! We've spent most of today and all of last night in bed, and now it's time to get up. Just because we have a free day does not mean we need to turn into sex-crazed maniacs.'

Reclining back on pillows and looking utterly delectable in Hermione's opinion, Sirius looked at her blankly. 'And what's so wrong with that?'

She sighed. 'I just think that there are more important things for us to do than waste the rest of today under the sheets.'

He crossed his arms. 'Like what? Tell me one thing that I could be doing that's better or more important than burying my face between your golden tanned-' his answer was cut off by Hermione's current night time novel bouncing off his head.

'Can you not be all lascivious for one moment?'

The older man looked at her calmly. 'Yes. But Hermione, I can't think of a thing better to do with my time than to completely ravish you.'

Crossing to the bed, Hermione sat next to her lover. 'I can't either but try this on for size: how about letting Ron and Harry in on our little secret?'

'What? Why now? I thought things were going pretty well for us. No need to bring drama into it just yet.'

'I think we should tell Harry and Ron about us now. If we don't tell them, Ron will try and set me up with more people and I'll have to restrain myself from popping him in the eye. Besides, so many people already know, and now it's just disrespectful to keep them in the dark. Besides, honesty is the best policy.'

'Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently by elimination, dishonesty is the second best policy,' Sirius replied.

Hermione just gave him a look, but then grabbed his arm and pulled him out of bed. Humouring her, Sirius quickly donned clothes, ran a brush through his hair and then followed Hermione down to Harry and Ron's room. Soon after knocking on the portrait, Harry let them in. Ron was found hunched over a bunch of worn papers on a low table, muttering under his breath while scribbling something on another sheet. As they came in talking, he shushed them, and returned to his work.

'Wow, I never thought I'd actually live to see the day that Ronald Weasley was actually interested in studying,' Hermione said, smiling.

Harry grinned along with her. 'I can't either, but he's been like this all day. I've been trying to distract him but nothing works.'

After a bit more hurried scribbling, Ron put down his quill, and stretched, yawning heartily. 'Sorry about that, guys. I just had this tactic gnawing at my brain, and I needed to get everything out on paper. So to what do we owe this pleasure?'

'Can't two friends just come and visit two other friends without an ulterior motive?' Sirius asked, his voice raising slightly as he got more nervous.

'What Sirius meant to say is that we came to tell you guys something that we don't want to say in front of some of the others.'

Both Harry and Ron looked at them attentively, but it was the redhead who responded. 'Sure, shoot.'

'Ron, you're going to want to sit down,' Hermione said quietly, remembering past surprises.

He paled. 'Oh, it's that kind of news, is it?'

Nodding, Sirius looked at Hermione and decided to plunge in. Taking a deep breath he said, 'Hermione and I are in a relationship and have been for the past few days. We're a couple now.'

Still looking at Sirius, Ron addressed his ex-girlfriend. 'Hermione, I thought I just Sirius say that you two had started going out.'

Swallowing, Hermione answered in the affirmative. Ron quickly jumped up, his hands now clenched in fists, as Harry stood up slower, his face pale. Sirius and Hermione sprang between the two, one to explain and the other to restrain.

Using all of her strength, Hermione pushed a beet-red sputtering Ron off to a corner, while Sirius and Harry sat back down on the couch.

'What do you think you're doing, Mione? He's old!'

Hermione just glared at him and his nonsense.

'I will not let you go out with him! You're too innocent and he's a grown-up, very experienced. He knows much more about life than you, and he's just going out with your for thing. It's Sirius Black for Merlin's sake! Fun, yeah, but reckless, dangerous , not very trust-worthy.'

'Stop it Ron!' Hermione hissed at him, her eyes flashing. 'You're acting like a jealous ex-boyfriend!'

'Minus the jealous part, that sounds about right. If Sirius wasn't his godfather, Harry would be joining me on this.' Ron's face was paling, his skin now only slightly pink.

She decided to try for another approach. 'Look, do I bug you about Harry? No. So be a friend and do the same for me. Sirius isn't going to hurt me. I know what I'm doing, trust me. I've grown up a bit more than you think.'

'So this is just about sex, then?' Ron's raised tone had caught the attention of Harry and Sirius who now looked over at them strangely.

Hermione turned her back on them, completely mortified. 'Excuse me, I'm going to go toss myself out the window.'

Now contrite, Ron pulled her back over to him, lowering his voice. 'I'm sorry, that wasn't fair to say. But are you sure about this? I mean, a week ago, you had no contact with him, and probably never really thought of him.'

'That's true, but I'm in contact with him now, and he makes me happy. I don't know about the future, or where this is going, but one thing I do know is that he does make me happy, like Harry makes you happy.'

Ron remained silent, clearly fighting a battle within himself.

'Ron, you're one of my best friends, and I'd never want to lose you over something like this. I mean, we've just started to get back in the swing of things again. I'm not asking you for your approval, just your acceptance. I respect you enough to not want to sneak around and lie to you, so I hope the feeling is mutual and you'll just give your blessing.'

'I just want you to be happy. That's all I ever wanted,' Ron whispered, eyes downcast and a bit misty.

A grin lit up her face, and Hermione threw herself at Ron, hugging him tightly.

'I love you Mione.'

'I love you too Ron.'

'Hey, you two are getting a little too close for comfort,' Harry called over jokingly.

The two split apart, smiling sheepishly, both relieved that the trouble was over.

Joining Sirius, Hermione looked back and forth between her best friends. 'So you're okay with this?'

Harry nodded at the same time as Ron burst out, 'NO!'

Pushing him back towards the couch, Harry took over. 'We're fine,' he insisted. 'We're happy for you both, but just give the git behind me a little bit of time to process this. It's not going to be easy. I mean, see how long it's taken him to see that Ginny is happy with Malfoy? I think he sometimes still believes that she's just in her bad-boy phase and will be moving on to settle down with a nice sensible man soon.'

'Hey!' Ron cried. 'I'm right here! I can still hear you, y'know.'

'Of course you can, dear.' Harry placated. Turning back to the pair, he smiled. 'He'll be fine; we'll be fine. Just go and enjoy yourselves.'

'Thanks Harry.' Hermione leaned forward and kissed his cheek. 'I think we will.'

After they left, Harry turned to face his boyfriend, who was still pouting slightly. 'What is it, Ron? It's like you don't want her, but you don't want anyone else to have her either. That's a bit unfair.'

Ron groaned and threw himself back on the couch. 'Everything is just so confusing! I mean, I love being with you. I love you, but then I still have feelings about Hermione that won't go away. I don't want to be with her, but every time she smiles at a man, I remember how good it felt when she smiled like that at me.'

Harry joined him on the couch and took one of his hands, holding it loosely. 'I know what you mean, because it's like that with me and Ginny. Whenever she glances at Malfoy with a look in her eye or grins only at him, I want to go over and punch his ruddy daylights out. But I don't because she loves him, and I love you. Old habits just die hard, that's all. And I don't think it's any easier for Hermione to watch you with me.'

'But why does it have to be Sirius?'

'You can't help who you fall in love with,' Harry said quietly.

Ron flashed him a small smile. 'No, you certainly can't.'

AUTHOR NOTE: I am so sorry about taking this long to update, but I hope you like what I have. This is a culmination of exam stress, job stress, family stress, friend stress (especially friend stress, I could scream!). But thanks for reading, and if you have the time, please tell me what you think. Steph, I hope there's enough slash to keep you happy. :) Happy Pride day to those who celebrate and to those who are respectful enough to accept that everyone is different.

Sorry, I just had to reload this to try and get the lines in the right places.