--Sirius

By the time I reached Grimmauld Place, the entire Order - or what was left of it - had already gathered there. I fancied that they were waiting for me.

Animal instincts compelled me to check the street in both directions before entering myself. Determining that the coast was clear, I bounded inside the house that I loathed so much that was now on a rare occasion made inviting by the presence of my friends.

"Sirius!" I heard Molly Weasley call cheerily as she came bustling out of the kitchen bearing a dish towel and a mixing spoon and followed closely by an extensive checklist that hovered dangerously close to her right ear. "So nice of you to join us! Oh, give us a rest...!" she swatted irritably at the parchment behind her head before heading towards me in the hall.

I felt myself become human, literally and even figuratively.

"Won't you come into the kitchen dear, and have a bite to eat. You look starved," she said, scanning me up and down in that motherly way she had that always seemed to make me feel both at home and completely slothful about myself all at once. "Of course," I answered gratefully, and even I could hear the grin in my voice as I said it.

"I'll tell the rest of the bunch that you're here," Molly assurred me warmly. "They're all dying to see you, Harry especially..."

I thanked her , trying to avoid her coincidental use of words, and as she hurried off I took the opportunity to step into the warm kitchen to my left that beckoned to me so invitingly. I could not help but crave the heat after so many weeks spent in ditches and holes that I'd lost count and my body had seemed to become permanently chilled.

I had not expected to find the kitchen already occupied.

There she was, standing there.

When I remember that first meeting, us two alone there in the kitchen, the only honest shock I recall having received was that of sheer recognition after a four year hiatus. But it is an amazing thing, time is. My appreciation for Hermione Granger began at that moment.

Now, I think she is the most beautiful woman in the world.

--Hermione

I was standing in the kitchen, supervising the stove for Molly, when I heard the door creak open behind me. I turned to see who it was and I saw a memory.

"Sirius..." I heard myself say. He stopped still. There was an awkward pause, so I grasped for more words. "I - um; it's good to see you again." It sounded so cold.

I extended my hand for him to shake. As glad as I was to see him, it all seemed so odd. Especially after four years. It was only three months ago that he had reappeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Harry, naturally, had believed it in an instant - a mere inclination, I believe, on his part, because he missed him so. Sightings and other vague reports of him had gradually reached the ears of the Order, but even then we had been far too realistic to believe them. Word came, then, that Sirius had turned up in front of Harry's house (the little flat in London, not Grimmauld; the one Harry took up for no reason but to have his own place I believe), and then we were all obliged to see the truth in all the rumors. It had almsot been far too strange to believe for me; the last time I had seen Sirius Black was when he was falling behind the Veil of Death...

He took my hand firmly and I gasped a little, in spite of myself, as if fearing that he was not real. But a good strong, and all-too-human hand met mine and shook it too. It all became true then, even to me.

Sirius Black had indeed returned.

I just stood there, stupidly, for what seemed like years until my mind willed my body into motion. "Sirius!" I said happily. Wrenching my hand from his I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him so tightly that I feared I had cut off the circulation to his head.

"I'm so glad you're back," I whispered against his neck.

It seemed a foolish thing to say, but for a very unconscious reason...I meant it.