A big thank you to Dixie 326 for her review of my chapter about Remus' visit, and to JayBat for all her excellent suggestions. Thanks as well to all the ones who have put that story in their favorites.

I'd be very grateful if someone agreed to be my beta reader. And for any new review !

Hermione sighed contently. She was reclining on one of the comfy deckchairs scattered on the marble terrace of the villa, overlooking exquisite gardens. Beyond them was the turquoise water lake, surrounded by beautiful mountains bathing in a pure, slightly bluish light.

Over a nearby meadow, Sirius, Harry and Tonks, with Teddy in front of her on her broom, were trying to catch a Golden Snitch. For a while, Hermione looked at them, smiling at the little boy's delight and admiring Sirius' easy grace.

It was difficult to realize that just two weeks before, they were still in London. They've had extremely taxing days, to say the least. The ceremony itself, of course, had been a glorious moment, and the culmination of years of fighting and hard work. Sirius had formally received his wand back from Kinglsey Shaklebolt, who in a long speech had recalled the whole story of his unjust imprisonment and the part he had taken in the fight against Voldemort, before stressing the necessity of changing the laws that had allowed such a failure in justice. He had praised as well Hermione's courage during the war, her patient research and remarkable knowledge of ancient magics, at such a young age.

They had both been the focus of general attention. She had withstood it rather well, feeling self-confident in the purple formal dress Sirius had complimented her for. As for him, his black, soberly silver embroidered robe had made him look like some wizard prince of the past. But anyhow, even clad in jeans and a ligth blue shirt, as he was now, he looked every bit like the aristocrat he so adamantly refused to be.

If the ceremony had been rather stressful for both of them, it had been nothing compared to the questioning they had been submitted to by many journalists. Some of them had been no better than Rita Skeeter herself, in Hermione's opinion. Some magazine writers had asked her, with very knowing looks, what had made her decide to devote three full years of her life to a research with such an uncertain outcome. But Sirius had been the target of the most intrusive questions, such as how it felt to be locked up at Azkaban as an innocent, how he had kept his sanity, if he resented Dumbledore's betrayal or, worst of all, what it was like beyond the Veil. Hermione had seen him become more and more tense, for his memories of the afterlife, of the contact he had felt with his deceased loved ones, was something he didn't want to share with anyone aside from his closest friends.

But now, all this was behind them, and Hermione was glad to see that Sirius, still too pale and thin when they had arrived, looked now fully recovered, with his sun tanned skin and well defined muscles.

Her musing was interrupted as Remus crossed the terrace and sat in a deckchair next to her. He was holding a book, as usual, but instead of opening it, he looked pointedly at her and said :

"He won't make the first move, you know."

"What do you mean ?" answered Hermione, blushing.

"I think you know it. Or will you deny that you have feeling for Sirius ?"

After a pause, Hermione gave in.

"Am I that obvious ?"

"You are, my dear. Both of you are. But as strongly as Sirius feels for you, he won't act on it."

"Are you sure he has feeling for me ?"

"Oh yes. It's quite obvious from the way he talks about you and the way he looks at you, especially when you're not looking at him. Besides, Sirius has never been very good at hiding his feelings, and I can tell you that he has fallen head over heels for you. But I know as well that he will battle his feelings as long as he can."

Hermion's heart began to race at these words, a sweet warmth invading her chest. Remus knew Sirius so well that she hardly doubted his words.

"My God, if you're right… ! But if he has feeling for me, why wouldn't he admit it ? You're the one who told me about his quite busy love life in Hogwarts. He seemed to have his way with women", she smiled.

"Well, you've seen the way most of the witches ogled him at the ceremony. Imagine what it could be like with a crowd of teenagers. There was constantly a passel of girls trying to catch his attention. What a guy can do ?" Remus added with a smile. "So yes, he had many girlfriends, but he very seldom initiated the relationship. And except once, it never lasted very long."

"Why so ?", asked Hermione, suddenly a little worried.

"Well, for two main reasons. The first one is that contrary to popular belief, exceptional beauty can be a curse and not a blessing when it comes to finding your kindred spirit. Most of these girls were rather shallow and only saw his looks, and not who he was. Some others were different, and could have been a good match for him, but he had his own issues. Considering what his family was, the way his parents treated him, it was particularly difficult for him to open up. For everyone, he was one of Hogwarts' most popular and brilliant students, without a worry in the world. It wasn't just a facade, for making light of a situation has always been his way of coping with it. But only the three of us knew better. And the same way James and Sirius made their job to watch over me every full mood, James and I made our job to watch over Sirius any time he was tempted to do stupid, dangerous things just to forget for a while the anger and pain he kept bottled up inside him. Getting him to open up, to talk to us about his hurts, took time and patience. But the girls wanted his trust all at once, just because they were dating. For Sirius, it was far from being that simple

"But you needn't worry about that", Remus continued, "for he trusts you completely, the same way he trusts Harry, the same way he trusted James. All what you need to do is to show him what you feel for him… If you are sure of these feelings", he added with a very serious look.

"I'm sure", replied Hermione fervently.

"I do hope so. For he's been hurt far to much already, in so many ways. I don't know if even I, who have experienced rejection many times, because of my condition, can really imagine what he has been through. For at least I began life with loving, caring parents. And Dumbledore gave me my chance. But Sirius was first rejected and publicly disowned by his parents, then vilified by the Wizarding world as a whole, that decided he was guilty witout even giving him a chance to defend himself. Because of Dumbledore's attitude, no one in the Order did anything to hear his version of the facts, save from one single and insufficient attempt I made in the beginning. For twelve years, he's been completely abandoned. Would the strongest self-esteem resist that ? Besides, I know he feels specially unworthy of you, precisely because he thinks so highly of you. He thinks he's too old, too damaged. He won't allow himself to show you his feelings."

Hermione nodded, lost in thoughts. "Thank you, Remus", she said. "I don't know how, yet, but I'll find a way of convincing him that I can't consider being with anyone else but him. It has always been him, you know. I realize that now. I only tried to make it work with Ron because we were so close, as friends, that I thought it could be enough. But it wasn't. I still feel bad for hurting him. Fortunately, he has Amanda, now."

Remus nodded, smiling encouragingly, and didn't share with Hermione his personal opinion that Ron considered only Amanda as second best. He didn't want to add to his his young friend's guilt, especially as she would need all her power of persuasion to get Sirius out of his self-imposed boundaries.