DISCLAIMER: If I owned Harry Potter, Sirius Black would most definitely be alive and Wormtail would be tortured unmercifully.

Chapter 5

After Hermione fled the room, Sirius stormed into the library and grabbed the two bottles of Fire whiskey that were hid in the drawer of his desk and through himself down on the couch in front of the fire. That is where Harry found him an hour later with only one bottle of the potent whiskey left. Harry approached his venting godfather cautiously and sat down next to him on the couch, staring into the fire for a while.

"Sirius," Harry said after a bit, "I know how you feel…"

"No you don't," Sirius bit out angrily, taking a swig from the full bottle of fire whiskey. He turned to glare at Harry. "You have no bloody idea how I am feeling at the moment!"

"Okay, I admit I don't, but still…"

"There's no buts about it! She walked away Harry! She walked away and I can't help that."

"Maybe you could go talk to her…" Harry said slowly, glancing cautiously at Sirius.

"Obviously she doesn't want to talk," Sirius growled. He chugged half the bottle of fire whiskey and was going to do it again when Harry took the bottle from him. "Hey!" he protested.

"This," Harry held up the bottle, "is not going to help at all."

Sirius grunted but did not try to take the bottle back. Instead he glared at the fire, letting it absorb all of his anger.

Harry just set there, allowing his godfather's anger to simmer for a while. He, unlike everyone else, knew the real reason why Sirius was so mad. He had figured it out while watching the interaction between the two lovers.

It was obvious after a while that Sirius did not want to talk about what was bothering him but Harry was not going to just let him brood on his problems. They were going to talk and then he was going to force Sirius to go talk to Hermione.

"Sirius, you're going to have to face her sooner or later." Sirius only grunted which was the only clue that he had heard a thing Harry had said. "You just can't let her walk away…."

"Can't I? She obviously thinks that's the answer!"

"Do you know that? How did you think she would react Sirius?" Harry asked. "Did you expect her just to jump into your arms and claim her undying love for you?" He said sarcastically. "You were dead up until about 3 weeks ago, remember?"

Sirius pondered this for a moment and his angry scowl softened, somewhat. "But she saw me today!" Sirius protested.

"And she probably, knowing Hermione, convinced herself that you were just a figment of her imagination."

Sirius nodded his head but did not voice that he himself had thought the very same thing earlier. He would not allow Harry the satisfaction of being right.

Harry just watched Sirius for a while, trying to see if Sirius would admit the truth. Sirius, however, had no intention of allowing his expressions to change or voice his thoughts so Harry decided to press a little bit.

"Maybe she was surprised by seeing you again," he commented slowly. "I mean, she might have met someone else since she thought you were dead."

That was it, that was what broke Sirius out of his reverie. He turned to Harry with a fire in his eyes, displaying his anger. "I will die before any other man touches her," he bit out angrily between clenched teeth.

Harry smiled happily. "Good. Now go tell her that."

Sirius' eyes widened. "What?"

"Look, you just came back from the dead. She had spent all this time carrying for her daughter, mourning your death, and telling herself that you were never going to come back. And now, here you are. She wants to be with you yet she's scared that you're going to leave her at any given moment. She's scared."

Sirius contemplated this, not saying anything. Harry did have a valid point. Hermione had never been one to like being scared. She was feisty and he loved her for it.

"Sirius," Harry said, interrupting his thoughts, "you need to go talk to her. You need to see how she is. You need to be there for her now. She is still carrying around a lot of pain, anyone can see that, maybe you can take some of it from her. She loves you and now you have a daughter together. Don't give up on her, don't turn away from her, just…just love her."

Sirius nodded again, and stood. He took out his wand and pointed it at himself, muttering a sobering charm. "Thanks Harry," he said honestly. He then turned and walked out of the room in search of the one girl he had allowed to steal his heart.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hermione fought back the tears as Mrs. Weasley tried to inquire about her sudden change in mood. Hermione, of course, refused to divulge the reason and instead sat quietly, rocking Sirina back and forth. Sirina was happy with her mother's apt attention and giggled profusely at everyone.

Hermione felt Sirina being taken out of her arms, she suspected by Ginny, but she did not protest. She was still in shock. No matter how many times she tried, she could not come up with a logical reason as to why Sirius was alive and looking like a twenty-five year old, not that she minded of course, she just wanted an explanation.

She knew everyone was watching her carefully, trying to figure out why she had gone quiet and had walked away from Sirius. None of them knew of her time with the Marauders or of her love for Sirius. She knew she would have to tell them sometime, but right now, she just couldn't.

"Hermione," Ginny began slowly, sitting down across from her and taking her hands, "is everything alright?"

"Yes," Hermione replied without any emotion and without looking at the youngest red head in the room, "everything is fine. Why do you ask?"

"Because you're sitting there looking like you're at a bloody funeral," Fred piped up, earning him a elbow in the ribs from his twin and fellow mischief maker, George. "What?"

"You don't say that to someone when they're looking the way she does," George scolded.

"Then what do I say?"

"You say, 'Hermione, you look like someone just refused to pay house elves.'" George replied proudly, obviously thinking that this was the most logical thing to say.

"Oh that is so much better," Fred said sarcastically.

"Would you both shut up?" Ginny yelled angrily, her blue eyes blazing as she glared at them. The mischief makers instantly coward and tried to hide behind their mum. They would peek out occasionally to see if she was still glaring at them, but they did not say anything else.

As soon as she saw that they were not going to say anything else, she turned back to Hermione. "You never were a good liar."

Hermione sighed and finally turned to look at her friend. "I know."

"So," Ginny said slowly, "what's wrong?"

Hermione hesitated as she looked from one expecting face to another. The room suddenly seemed to be full of people waiting for answers to questions she didn't want to answer and did not know how to answer. Should she tell them the truth and have them feeling sorry for her, the thing she had been avoiding when she left them, or should she just choose not to answer and raise their suspicions? Oh, this was going to be one tough choice.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A/N: Oooo….what will she do? Will she tell them? Will she keep it secret? Oh the suspense. Oh wells….I just thought I would end it there…If you guys noticed, it took me less time to update this time…I'm doing better at making myself sit down and type up a whole chapter. I can't post tomorrow, I have an envirothon competition at Jackson's Mill. I hope we don't place in the top 5.

Went to the mall again today. Luckily there were no freaky guys with baby dolls. (see one of the previous chapters for story) I finally got my pretzel that my mother has been promising for the last 5 months and boy was it good!

I got my prom dress today! Author jumps around in excitement! It's GORGEOUS! I love it. Still no date though. Oh wells… you guys probably don't want to hear about it.

Got to go! I will try to update, if at all possible, by Friday or Saturday at the latest. I WILL TRY!

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW!

IT WILL ONLY GET ME TO UPDATE FASTER! SO JUST CLICK THAT LITTLE BUTTON DOWN THERE, YES THAT ONE, AND REVIEW THIS STORY. PLEASE!

!Amaya!