A/N: Just thought I'd write another chapter before Monday. Anyway, I just re-read my whole story, and gosh! How stupid am I? Even after rechecking time and time, I still have some stupid spelling mistakes! For instance, I should be typing 'taught', not 'thought'. Ishh!!

Revised: 28 August 2004

The Future Awaits
Chapter 19: Another Day With the Cat

The first thing she felt that morning was wet, rough swipes on her face. Squinting her eyes, she could only see a dark, black, grimy face blinking down at her. Wrinkling her nose, she reluctantly sat up, stretching and yawning herself.

"Ugh, Sirius. Don't ever do that again! Not only you're spreading germs all over my face, but your breath stinks!"

Changing back to his human form, Sirius quickly retorted, "I absolutely resent that!"

Hermione snorted and stuck out her tongue at him. Seeing her stepping out from the blanket, Sirius stifled a snicker.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What?!"

"It's just… you look so cute in that pyjamas."

"I happen to love these pyjamas. Thank you very much."

Rolling his eyes, Sirius informed her that he had made breakfast.

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Fresh from her morning bath, Hermione walked into the dining room. Sirius was already sitting there reading the 'Daily Prophets' while sipping his coffee.

"Anything new?"

"Nope. Just the former Minister's son getting married."

Hermione snorted at this. "I was expecting Fudge to get remarried."

Sirius looked up from the papers, giving her a questioning look. "Why?"

"Well, ever since his wife's death, rumour has it that he has been with many women."

Sirius snorted back. "That bloody old wanker!"

Hermione gave him a disapproving look, but didn't say anything. Chewing her food silently, Hermione watched him as his eyes moved from left to right, left to right. Feeling himself being watched, Sirius looked up again.

"Why don't you find a job, Sirius?"

He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Mya, let me remind you that I'm still considered as an outcast in this world. And besides, I'm the only heir of 'the Black' left. I've inherited all the money.., which are in Gringotts, by the way," ending his speech with a smug look.

"But Sirius, you name is cleared. And that money isn't going to last forever."

"Hermione… Hermione… you don't understand, do you? This world is not as easy as it looks like. Even if people knew my name is cleared, I will still have difficulties getting jobs… I'm an ex-prisoner, remember? I escaped from Azkaban, remember?"

Hermione exhaled loudly. "But there's still people like Dumbledore. I can even help you find a job in my department."

Sirius shook his head, giving Hermione a stubborn impression.

"Then what are you planning to do? Be a couch potato?!"

"Potato?! Why would I want to be a potato?"

Huffing, Hermione stated, "You're hopeless, you know that?"

Giving her his famous doggish grin, Sirius replied, "I know."

She rolled her eyes and stood up to walk to the sink. After washing her plates and cup the muggle way, she then disappeared into her room. Moments later, she came out wearing a blouse and a skirt with a navy blue cloak on top.

"Where are you going?"

"To the moon… to work, of course!"

"And just what am I supposed to do alone here?"

"I don't know. Maybe give my Crookshanks a bath?"

Crookshanks growled upon hearing his mistress. Taking her hat off the rack, Hermione went out through the door and disappeared with a 'crack'.

Sirius snorted at the now closed door. He looked down at the cat who turned to look back at him.

"She hasn't changed, has she?"

The cat mewed in response, agreeing with him. Bending down, Sirius grabbed the animal in his hands.

"Come, kitty. Let's give you a bath!"

He could have sworn the cat rolled his eyes.

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It was later in the afternoon when a ringing sound pierced the silent room. Panicking, Sirius frantically looked around the room. What the hell is that sound?! He finally saw Crookshanks jumping up and down below a yellow thing which he recognized as the 'fone'.

Remembering how Ron handled that device, Sirius tried imitating his actions. He cautiously picked up the receiver and tried putting it on his ear.

"Hello?" a voice from the caller end greeted.

Sirius looked at the receiver for a moment.

"Hello?" the voice sounded again, though it sounded faraway, as if it sounded near his mouth.

Sirius then tried turning the receiver around and tried putting it on his ear again. He finally said back, "Hello?"

"Who's that?" the person on the phone asked, whose voice finally became loud and clear.

"It's me. Umm… Sirius."

"Sirius? What are you doing there?"

"Excuse me, but who are you?" Sirius asked back, feeling slightly irritated.

"Oh! Umm… sorry. It's Ron. What time is it there in London?"

"Oh! Well, it's a quarter to 3."

"Oh… I thought it was in the evening there. I wanted to talk to Mione."

"Oh."

"Well, are you alone there?" Ron asked in a curious and suspicious tone.

"Yeah. I kinda stay here for a while. I had a fight with Remus… so, I didn't really like living alone… so yeah…"

Sirius didn't know why, but he felt slightly nervous but at the same time, a bit happy at telling Ron about his stay. It was as if he wanted Ron to get jealous of him.

The person on the other end of the line became silent before mumbling an 'Oh'.

Trying to make a civilised conversation, Sirius continued, "So, how's the mission coming on?"

"Well, it's okay. We're still on the verge of tracking them down. We sort of got informed about Bellatrix who was spotted in one of those muggle nightclubs, killing at least three muggles there."

Sirius frowned at his cousin's name. The very person who caused him to fall into that Veil.

"Hmm… so how's Harry?"

"He's fine. He's taking a nap, right now. Well.., I think I'll go now."

"Yeah."

"Can you tell Mione that I miss her so very much?"

Sirius scowled and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, okay."

He didn't care if Ron noticed his dull voice, for he would certainly not pass that message to Hermione.

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It was around 7.30 in the evening when the doorbell rang. Opening the door, Hermione studied Sirius up and down, before leaning on the doorframe.

"Hi, sexy."

Sirius gulped at her seductive voice. Looking down at himself, he gave a soft squeak. He forgot he was from the shower and only had a very short towel covering his abdomen.

Hermione chortled loudly at his abashed look.

Letting her walked in, Sirius said, "Ron said he misses you."

He was startled at his own mouth. Why did he just say that? But all his thoughts were blown away when he saw the aglow on her petite, pretty face.

A/N: Guys! Did you remember JKR telling us that POA movie giving hints for Book 6 & 7? After reading one of the possible hints from 's forum, I found that it was rather plausible that our Ron could be a Seer! Go read the theories they have on that forum.., if you're interested that is…

Anyways, a number of you asked me about my Internship. Well, I'm a student of IT Broadband & Multimedia. I got allocated to a company where my job is programming JAVA codes and some SQL databases things. Gawd! I really hate programming! They suck!!

Anyways, here's my messages to my darling reviewers… I've improved! Became more organized! Alphabetical order for you!

Alloryn: I'll try to keep up with the updates. Glad you liked the story so far. :)

Angul-gurl: I know, I'm sorry. I hope the upcoming chapters would make Sirius happy.

Arwen-Georgie-Skye: Thank you for the advice, girl. I really needed that. I can be too sensitive to my reviewers ;)

Becki: Whoa! you really have a good theory there. Thanks! And wow! Thank you for the info on London cabs. I'm a Singaporean, in factual. So, I never really got to know much about these things.

CaitlintheRipper Thanks! And ooh, I sure hope I'll be able to make time for this story.

Captain Oblivious: I don't remember having a 'captain' hiding in my Chapter 18… Hahah!! I should make an outtake where Sirius go barking at this stalker.

Courtney: Thank you for wanting to recommend my fic to your friend… And do you really think I'm a good writer? Wow! If only my English teacher hears that!

dawn1: Yeah… I also love writing the scene during Mione's nightmare.

DrunkonBoba: Thank you for liking my story :)

fuzzfurry: Good you like it! :)

lanna1186:You're so sweet; giving me encouragements to be willing to continue this story.

meenyrocks: Yeah. I got a 'D' for my O Levels (GCSE). Currently, I'm 19 years old. Took that exam in 2001 (16 yr old). And hahah! I love to see Hermione being rich. Don't know why. Heheh! I kinda make it look the classic 'rich girl, poor boy'… don't you think? And furthermore, JKR haven't really covered much about the Grangers. So I thought, 'why not just create my own Grangers?'

Melanie: Look, I'm not the only author who writes Sirius/Hermione fanfictions. There are many more passionate SB/Hr fans out there than me. This is fandom! If you find the pairing unsuitable, then don't read it, rather than going on throwing insults at me.

mistyqueen: I know… you remind me of a Hindi movie I watched, "So Close, Yet So Far…" Heheh!

Padfootz-luvr: Heheh! Okay, I already added you on MSN, but I must tell you, I'm not a total addict of these messengers. I never come online much. Anyways, about Sirius's real middle name being 'Lee'… I'm not too sure about that. Don't remember JKR mentioning about him.

PsYcHoJo: Yeah… the scene where Sirius told Mione about the 'story' was one of the main scenes I had in mind before starting this story.

Rane2920072: I'll think about Ron… I'm still not too sure what to do with him. Great planner, aren't I?

Sirius is mine so get over it!: Hahah! Nice nickname. But I don't think I'll agree with it. ;) And thank you for your compliments!

softballsweeti11: Aww… I'll try my best to update after my holidays. Just hope my company don't stress me out. Programming work can really give me migraines!

soyamonkey: Thank you! :)

Star: I know… some of my characters are really out of character. Couldn't really help it. :(

TheEvilMusician: Ooo! Welcome to the Sirius/Hermione fandom!

Tigereyes92389:Thank you for liking my story. As for the 'nelish', it's just a thing I included to distract Sirius. I may use that thing in the future chapters, though. As for the 'Veil', that is in the 5th Book; a place (somekind of portal) where Sirius fell and died (Though I'm one of Sirius's worshippers who is in denial of his death). I know my theory for the Veil in the 1st chapter is kind of a mistake, since the place actually doesn't really stay there; it disappears and can appear anywhere.

zoltaire: Hahah! Good that I did put a smile on your face :)

::Whoa!! I feel so happy to see an increase in reviewers. Though I don't want to put up hope that it will continue this way forever::