Hermione woke up in the middle of the night and realised she was alone in the bed. Which probably meant that Sirius had had one of his nightmares, and that, for once, she'd not woke up in time.

For even if his mind was free from the Dementors' maleficent print since the Veil, that didn't mean, of course, that he was rid from the memory of the past itself. Sometimes, more often that Hermione would have liked, he would toss and turn in his sleep, or would startle awake, fighting to bring his breathing back under control, in an attempt not to wake her. But on such nights, Hermione usually woke up even before he was. If he was still asleep, she would wrap her arms around him, whispering tender nonsenses, trying to make him feel her presence and her love as she led him back to reality. If he woke up abruptly, she would wait a little in case he would go back to sleep, and if he didn't, she would let him know that she was awake too, so he could talk if he wanted to.

She knew what he was dreaming of, and not just through the broken words he often muttered. Their connexion was so strong that sometimes, her sleeping mind would search his, perceiving his distress, and then, her exceptional legilimens abilities would make her share flashes of his dreams, in spite of herself, before she was awake enough to block the images. She'd seen him, aged sixteen, defying Walburga and shouting at her about Regulus joining the Death Eater, before he collapsed, strucked by the cruciatus curse. She'd had a glimpse of him in this dreadful, stifling cell, willing himself to live one more day, to think of Harry, not to give up. She'd experienced the rush of adrelanine of one of these deadly chases in which he had dodged the Aurors and the Dementors sent out to track him down. With him, she had felt surrounded by the horrid creatures, eager to take his soul. But none of these images would appear as often in his dreams as the charred ruins of Jame's house. And none would engulf him in such an abyss of horror and despair…

On such nights, she sometimes wished she could use the Memory charm on him, to make him forget at least some of these dark memories that were not public knowledge. But as it had been proven many times, this charm was too dangerous, too likely to backfire in the most unexpected manner. The good way of dealing with a traumatic past was not to forget it, but to get over it.

Some nights, more rarely, it was the other way around. It would be her who would have bad dreams –of Sirius surrounded by Dementors or falling through the Veil, of Harry seeming dead at Voldemort's feet, of her own unsustainable pain under Bellatrix's wand, of the lifeless bodies of so many friends at the end of the battle of Hogwarth-. And it would be his turn to take her in his arms to comfort her, to make her realise that they had each other now, and that all that pain and horror was in the past.

But was it ?

She got up and passed into the living room. He was there, with on his lap a book he wasn't reading. He was obviously deep in thoughts, and, by the look on his face, they were not pleasant ones. Then he saw her and tried to smile, but there was something in his eyes that made her suddenly realise the cause of the unsettling feeling she'd had since he's been back from his interview with Lavinia There was something he was not telling her.

"Tell me", she said. "Tell me whatever it is you didn't say about your interview with Lavinia. She did give you the location of the mine, didn't she ?"

Sirius sighed. Once again, he had to admit that he was unable to hide anything from her, whether the reason was her exceptional perceptiveness, of his own lack of aptitude in hiding his feelings, especially to her.

"She did… sort of. She's the Secret Keeper of the house of the manager … who happens to be a goblin".

It took Hermione no more than a few seconds to realise what this new piece of information entailed.

"No way !" she exclaimed. "There is no way I'll let you go to see that goblin alone ! And Harry won't have it either, you'll see".

There is was. Hermione might not have been born in the wizarding world, she had made sure she knew its laws, including the goblins' intricated and extremely binding ones, as thoroughly as any pureblood would.

He sighed. "You know there is no other choice, love. You can be sure that in the contract Marcus and the others have passed with that Gormuck, it must be specified that he can only open the mine to the CEO, without anyone being with him. As long as the position was held by one of them, it was perfect. Now that I took it from them, their only way to prevent me from discovering the mine eventully is either to kill me, or the goblin. I'm sure they would prefer the first option, but the other one is a much easier and quicker way to solve the problem, and they'll have no qualms killing someone who is nothing but a servant for them. Once Gormuck is dead without passing the secret of the mine door, no one will ever be able to open it, and all the people inside will soon die as well, TP's crime being buried with them".

"So you see", he added gently, "there is no other way. I have to go and see Gormuck alone. Many lives depend on it. And I have to go as soon as possible, that is, tomorrow. For they might very well decide not to wait for covering their tracks".

A knot was forming in Hermione's throat, threatening to choke her.

"What if Lavinia betray us ?" she croaked. "What if they suspect that you might have talked to her ? What if you don't find that goblin there, but Marcus and the others, or some former Death Eater on the run they would have hired to kill you ?"

"Hermione..."

"I know, I know, goblins' bloody law code. But imagine it was me who was suggesting to go in my own in a Death Eaters' nest. How would you react ?"

"Maybe I would be selfish enough to wonder if I could accept to put the lives of a few hundred strangers before your safety. But you could never think in such a way ".

"You overestimate me", muttered Hermione.

But she already kew that they didn't have any choice. They just couldn't let these people slowly die in a sealed mine.

There was no time, now, to wait and be sure before telling him what she had been suspecting –and hoping- for a few days.

"Anyway I won't let you go before we've made sure you can get immediate back up if there is any sign it might go wrong. And you'd better be more careful that you used to be in that kind of situation…"

She took a deep breath and added : "For I didn't want to tell you before I had performed the test charm, but I think I'm pregnant."