Hi everybody! Here is chapter three. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for your nice reviews, I promise to update regularly!

Marie

Chapter three - Tales

During the next days, Hermione's feelings were mixed. She was happy for everybody and Harry in particular on the one hand. Harry did not miss a single second of Sirius' company, they were talking non stop and had even started to develop their own private jokes (one of the most popular ones included Kreatcher, much to Hermione's dismay, so it was only a matter of time that another popular one was about Hermione and her SPEW). Hermione liked to watch the pair of them, she enjoyed harry's good mood and Sirius' obvious care for his newfound godson very much. On the other hand, there still was her scepticism. Sirius was happy, no doubt and she was surprised how much she liked watching him smile his dazzling smile and flirting charmingly with every female around. But he was not Sirius. She noticed that the others liked the change that was caused by the lack of his dreadful memories. But nobody seemed to question it like she was, quite the contrary. Sirius had of course started to ask questions about his old life and everybody was thoroughly avoiding the fact that he had spent 12 years in Azkaban. So there were many joyful tales about his mischiefings at school, the old marauder days and his heroic work for the order (although somehow there had never been the right itm to tell him about the fact he was an animagus – I now, this doesn't make excactly great sense, but I need that one for a scene that has already formed in my mind… And I like it too much to give it up just for logic's sake).

They had of course explained about his best friend James' death but had failed to give him the crucial information about Wormtail's betrayal and his arresting. And somehow, Hermione noticed, the dates started to blur. Tonks for example answered Sirius' question about his post-Hogwarts-achievements with a lighthearted: "You've dedicated years to the Order!", which was of course, not an entire lie, but also very far from the truth. Especialy Harry didn't want to spoil his godfather's newfound happiness and the others followed his lead persuming that Harry was closest to Sirius and his decision about what to do was right, or at least to be respected.

Hermione herself had some difficulties to act in a way that did not confuse Sirius and that kept her from having to answer too many questions about his life, so se started to avoid private conversation with him. She had not confronted Harry directly yet, but was hinting now and then, that she was not entirely OK with his behavior.

This went on for about a week, but then something happened, that ceased her silent accenptance of Harry's policy. Ron, Harry, Remus, Tonks, Ginny, Sirius and the Weasley twins were sitting aruond the fire chatting and joking the evening away. Hermione was cuddled in one of the big old armchairs she liked so much, hardly ever looking up from her book.

But then, something Harry said (or was it the tone in his voice?) broke her concentration: "Yes, you know, you tried to rescue my parents and me from Voldemort and when you discovered that it was too late, you never gave up to look for their murderers, even after Voldemort had disappeared and everything seemed peaceful. You never gave up. You even worked for the Ministry for three years to make sure that as many Death-Eaters as possible were caught and thrown into Azkaban."

Hermione gasped. She stared at Harry, then looked at the others, only to find them agreeing with him once again. She fixed her eyes on Harry again and when he finally glanced at her, she shook her head at him in disbelief. She knew he had understood, they knew each other long enough, but he just shrugged and continued to talk with the others.

Hermione got up from her chair abruptly, making her heavy book thunder to the floor and causing everybody to look up at her. She sent an icy "Excuse me!" into Harry's direction and left the room. She stormed into the kitchen, out of the backdoor, desperate for fresh air. Ten minutes later, the Weasleys were ordered to bed by their homecoming, tired father and she heard Tonks, Remus and Sirius say goodnight too. The house went quiet and Hermione found it safe to return to the kitchen after 20 minutes.

She found herself face to face with Harry, who just came out of the living room.