DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter…. 'nough said.

A/N: THIS STORY IS REMAINING PG-13 or T… whatever the hell it is called..

Chapter 18:

Hermione woke up slowly the next morning as the sun seeped in through the window, snuggling closer to her body pillow in hopes of blocking out the light and gaining a few more minutes of sleep.

It only took a few seconds, though, for her to realize that what she was snuggling up to wasn't, in fact, a body pillow since she was pretty sure, even in her drowsy state, that body pillows do not move.

It also did not take long for a now wide awake Hermione to realize that she was totally naked and sleeping next to a very naked male who so conveniently had his arm wrapped around her waist.

Hermione's eyes flew open as she raised up off of her back quickly to see where exactly she was at. Her wide eyes looked around frantically as she turned and found Sirius smiling dreamily in his sleep, his hand still clutching at her waist.

Hermione smiled slowly as she remembered last night and what had transpired in this very bed…and in the shower…and on the floor… eh hem, anyways, the point was that she remembered his sweet words of love and how gentle he had been with her.

Hermione let her hands drift up to his bed-messed hair, running her hands through it and removing the small tangles. She brushed it away from his forehead as it strayed close to his eyes, wanting to look upon him.

She leaned down slowly, careful not to shift the bed drastically, and gently pressed a kiss to his lips. "Sirius," she whispered softly against his lips, "wake up, love."

Sirius, however, did not budge.

Hermione frowned as she recalled some of the tales she had heard from James and Remus of how hard he was to wake up in the mornings but she never truly believed it, until now that is.

How did he ever make it to class on time?

"Sirius," she repeated, though a bit more loudly this time than the last and adding a small nudge to his shoulder. He still did not budge.

A mischievous smile spread across Hermione's face as her eyes grinned wickedly. Slowly, her hand moved from its' position in his hair down his chest, scraping her fingernail lightly against his skin as she went, and further down until her hand pressed against a certain part of his male anatomy.

Sirius' eyes instantly flew open as he let out a feral groan and arched his back on the bed. His lust filled black eyes locked onto her face and she couldn't help the wicked grin that formed from his shocked expression as she continued to tease him, wrapping her hand fully around his shaft and stroking it.

He groaned loudly and grabbed her hips with his hands and flipped her over onto her back, rolling himself over till he was directly above. He looked down at her with black eyes filled with need and love.

"So, you've finally decided to join the world of the living, eh?" Hermione teased, smiling up at him as she raised her head up slightly and pressed a chaste kiss to his chin.

Sirius flashed her a doggy grin and wagged his eyebrows and touched his hips to hers. "Now that I am up, what are you going to do about it?"

Hermione grinned mischievously, a grin that the Marauders often wore, and Sirius narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, but he was not quick enough.

Faster than a Russian racehorse on steroids, Hermione quickly shoved him off of her and hopped off of the bed, grinning at him as she wrapped a dishevelled sheet around her.

"I'm going to urge you to get up so we can go get some breakfast before it gets to late," she replied sweetly, smiling down at him.

"We can always pilfer something from the kitchens," Sirius suggested hopefully, giving her his best puppy eyes as he slowly scooted towards her.

She almost fell for it….almost.

"Sorry love, I'm not budging," Hermione replied, crossing her arms in front of her. Though this gave her the appearance of being tough (and also helped to keep the sheet in place), it also pressed her breasts up, making Sirius groan.

Hermione rolled her eyes and let her arms fall to her sides. "Sirius, I'm hungry and I'm going to go down and get some breakfast. Now, are you coming or not?"

Sirius gave another groan but this time out of frustration, but nevertheless, he raised himself up into a sitting position on the bed. "Yeah, I guess I can find enough energy after last night to do that." He grinned as the blush crept up on her cheeks. "Just give me fifteen minutes and I'll meet you in the common room."

Still blushing a light pink, Hermione smiled and gave him a small peck on the lips before quickly dashing out of the door and through a small passageway that would allow her to get the girl dorms without going through the common room. For once, she was glad that there was a secret passageway between the girls and guys' dorms.

She needed some time alone with her thoughts, in all honesty. One question continuously plagued her: Why did she allow herself to fall so madly in love with Sirius when any day now she might return home where she would only find him dead.

She chuckled at her own blindness, the answer was so clearly obvious that she was surprised that she hadn't seen it before now. He had awakened something within her that had lain dormant for years now. He had brought out feelings in her that she had never knew existed before.

But most of all, he had gave her a reason to hope again. Hope that tomorrow would be a brighter day. Hope that maybe everything would workout alright. And maybe, just maybe that all the killing would finally end.

But was all of that enough to risk getting hurt?

Yes, she acknowledged, it was worth it and so much more.

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As the others came back from the Christmas break, arriving in hordes as they ran through the school, meeting back up with their friends, they noticed the obvious difference in the relationship between Sirius Black and Hermione Granger.

It was clear, even to those who weren't really close enough to them to even be acknowledged as "acquaintances," that the couple was what some referred to as "love birds." The couple was hardly ever seen apart during the day and were especially hardly ever apart in the evening.

James and Lily had also grown considerably closer over the break. Lily was now sporting a large diamond and emerald necklace with matching earrings that James had presented her with on Christmas Eve after everyone had already retired to their beds.

Lily was forever smiling from happiness as she walked down the corridors and James' eyes lit up every time she entered the room.

Really, Hermione would have thought this rather disgusting had it not been pointed out to her that it was the same with Sirius and herself so that made it endearingly sweet.

Remus often joked to Hermione and Sirius that at the Potter's manor, they had began to knock before entering any room for fear of what they would walk in on.

But in all seriousness, Mr. and Mrs. Potter had instantly fallen in love with Lily and had gushed over her. They also accidentally let it slip all James had ever said about her, and, much to his embarrassment, showed her some of his letters mentioning her, actually practically drooling over her would be more like it.

Of course, unfortunately for James, Remus had also been in the room when the letters were passed around and had, upon arriving back at Hogwarts, relayed the contents, each and every embarrassing statement, to Sirius who teased James unmercifully.

James, though, was never known to back down from a battle and, in turn, started calling Sirius by some of the pet names that Hermione had come up for him, embarrassing pet names that is that Sirius would rather not leave the bedroom.

The group became closer as the weeks progressed, bringing them into the new year and through the start of another 'lovely' term. Sirius and James finally coaxed Remus into talking to Kim Mathers, actually they basically did it for him and got him a date for the next Hogsmeade weekend.

Since she was already friends with Lily and Hermione (she was what the boys deemed a "school freak" as well), she generally spent most of her time around them now. Jessica started dating some sixth year from Hufflepuff and was generally never out of his arms.

Peter hardly ever hung around with them anymore A/N: has anyone other than me noticed how I 'accidentally' forgot to mention Peter in a while…that's a darn shame but would continuously cast weird and unnerving glances at Hermione that left her reaching for her wand.

This really did unnerve her but she refused to tell Sirius for what he might do. Even though he may be a treacherous rat, there was no use pushing him away from his friends when they could possible change the outcome of the future, though Hermione doubted it.

Before anyone knew it, Valentine's day was upon and everything was complete and total chaos…as usual. Boys and girls alike were both running around searching for that "perfect" someone to spend this holiday of lovers with.

The Marauders, however, just sat by laughing at everyone else make fools of themselves as they wrapped their arms around their respective girlfriends.

One particularly evening, the night before the love-sick holiday in fact, as the group sat in front of the fire, minus Peter who was doing some "research" and Remus who was off "patrolling" with Kim, the topic of plans for Valentine's Day came up.

"So, what are your guy's plans for Valentine's Day?" Lily asked as she pushed James' wandering hand away from her for the tenth time that night.

Hermione glanced over and caught Sirius' eye. "Actually, Sirius refuses to tell me. He's being rather secretive."

"Funny," Lily commented, looking suspiciously at her boyfriend, "James won't tell me anything either. Sweetheart, if your hand goes near my bum again, I swear I'll hex you so bad that your mother would thank me for the improvement."

James' mouth dropped open as he started sputtering, trying to come up with a decent comeback while Sirius sat propped up against the couch, laughing.

Lily looked at Hermione, completely ignoring the two idiots they called boyfriends and asked, "Do you think they're planning something?"

"Oh definitely," Hermione answered at once, giving the red head a nod.

"Hey girls," James interrupted, obviously still spewing over Lily's earlier threat, "we're sitting right here, you know that right?"

"How observant of you," Lily stated, patting his cheek lovingly before pinching it.

James sent a mock glare at her, trying to look hurt though he failed, miserably I might add. He even tried to cross his arms in a childish pout but Lily wasn't about to let him get away with it.

"Oh don't even try that face with me, James Potter! You should now by now that, though it may work on more inexperienced people, it does not work with me."

James smiled roguishly at her before lunging at her, rolling them both off of the couch and onto the floor. He pinned her down, laughing at her feeble struggles to escape. James leaned down and caught her lips with his, giving her a searing kiss.

They broke apart at Sirius' loud coughs. "Guys, please, don't ruin my dinner."

James leaned his head up just enough to stare at his friend, still not moving from on top of Lily. "Oh, you can't tell me that you haven't done it," he accused. "In fact, you've done more!"

"You're right, Prongsie my dear," Sirius exclaimed, beaming largely which earned him a slap from Hermione. "OW!"

"Serves you right."

"Love you too."

"I know you do," Hermione smirked.

"You two are so cute!" James squealed in a girly voice.

"Shut up, Prongsie," Sirius teased. "If you haven't noticed, you're still straddling Evans."

James looked down quickly, his face beet red, and noticed that he, in fact, was. Smiling sheepishly at her, he got off of her and offered her a hand up.

When Lily stood, she playfully shoved James, making him fall back onto the floor, making him land on top of Sirius. She smirked at him before turning to Hermione. "I say we go upstairs and 'discuss' some things if you catch my drift."

Hermione smiled wickedly. "Yes, let's."

The girls fled the room quickly, ignoring the protests coming from their boyfriends who were still lying on the floor in a very compromising position.

A/N: GREAT NEWS GUYS! Blazey-poo has helped me re-find my PLOT LINE! This story is actually going somewhere now… if you want to know why it took me so long to update, and I have a very good excuse, check the LJ.

Much Love,

Amaya