Disclaimer: I own...a dog...some situations in this story, the plot, my ideas, the Serpantitheus, and T.R, but other than that I own nothing in this story.

A/N: I would like to take a minute to thank all of my reviewers. You can find the answers to your questions and everything else in my live journal. The link to it is in my profile. Just copy and paste it into your browser. I hope I answered the questions well enough.

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Chapter Four:

"T.R.?" Ron asked after Dumbledore and Hermione showed the letter to the rest of the order. "Who's that?"

"You don't think...I mean, surely that's a coincidence." Harry said.

Dumbledore nodded his head confidently. "Yes Harry. That is a mere coincidence. The one thing we know for certain right now is that this is not the work of Voldemort. He is dead and buried in the same cemetery as his muggle father. The very same cemetery that you yourself visited in your fourth year at school."

Harry nodded his head and breathed, seemingly, for the first time since the initials T.R. were spoken.

"Then who is this T.R.? Do we have any leads at all?" Kingsley Shacklebolt asked.

"I am afraid not."

"What's a Serpantitheus?" Ginny Weasley asked, which seemed to be a question on every body's minds, because all heads were turned towards Dumbledore, waiting for an answer.

"That is another thing we do not know as of yet." Dumbledore said. All heads dropped, disappointedly. "But you can be certain that we are going to find out."

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Hermione sat in her room after everyone had left, pouring over the letter. She grabbed various books out of the Black's Library on her way up, intent to find something about a Serpantitheus. Anything at all would have satisfied her and took the edge off her curiosity. Grabbing a book called Creature Keeper: Your Guide to Strange and Unusual Creatures, she began to read.

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Sirius awoke with a start as he heard a thud! from the room adjacent his. Throwing back the covers in haste, he hurried out the door and knocked on the door to Hermione's room.

Getting no answer, he gently opened the door, wand at the ready, and crept in. When he saw what had made the loud thud, he wanted to laugh. What a predictable thing for Hermione to do, he thought.

Hermione was sound asleep, her head resting on a book that was open to page 13, and another that she was halfway through. Another book that she must have been reading as well lay on the floor at her feet. Sirius assumed that this book had fallen, causing the loud noise that had awoken him.

He tiptoed over to her so as not to startle her, and gently picked her up off her chair. As he began to carry her over to the bed, she awoke.

"Sirius?" She asked. He looked at her.

"Yes, my sleeping beauty?" He said to her. Which was true. She was gorgeous while she slept.

"Um, why are you putting me to bed? I was reading and then I decided to take a break..."She began. He put up a hand to stop her.

"You were sound asleep and drooling. You were even snoring." He joked. Her eyes grew wide.

"I was not! I wasn't even asleep. I was just resting my eyes." She declared defiantly, before looking at him and laughing. "Ok. Maybe I was asleep. But I was not drooling, nor was I snoring."

"Oh, but you were. You were drooling so much that your books are soaked through, and you were snoring so loudly that you woke the entire house. They all asked me to come up here and wake you. Actually, I think Harry said something about me bashing you over the head...but I didn't want to do that. It would have created such a mess." Sirius teased, which gained him a playful slap on the arm from Hermione. He sat down on the end of her bed and leaned over and propped his head on his hand. "So, what did you learn from your extensive studies?"

Her eyes got bright. Sirius noted that they always did this when she spoke of a book she had been reading, or something new she had learned. " Not much. I learned that in Latin, Serpantitheus means, as far as I can tell seeing as I don't speak Latin, 'snake creature'. Other than that there was nothing. No books mention any snake creatures. I found Basilisks and normal snakes, but nothing in any of these books mentioned anything called a Serpantitheus. I'm beginning to think there is no such thing." Hermione finished, taking a deep breathe.

They just sat there in silence for a minute, staring at each other. Sirius decided finally to break the silence. "Maybe we can go to Hogwarts tomorrow and ask Madam Pince. If anyone would have read about one of those, it would be her. She's read every book in the Hogwarts library."

Hermione nodded. She covered her mouth with her hand to stifle her yawn.

"Well, time for you to get to bed, Ms. Granger. Goodnight." Sirius said, heading for the door.

"Wait." Hermione said, causing him to turn.

"Yeah?" he said, curiously.

"Don't I get tucked into bed too? I mean, you carried me here, so I just assumed you would tuck me in." She said, playfully.

Sirius smirked. "Sure, beautiful. I'll tuck you in as well. Lay back." He said, as he walked over to her bedside.

Hermione did as she was told as he walked over. Silently, she was hoping for another of those kisses goodnight that she'd received the night before, but she was too scared to ask for that. What if he just did it in a fatherly way? After all, he was Harry's Godfather, so it would make sense.

Sirius, who had been surprised at her question, quickly and gladly complied. He carefully tucked her blankets under her lean body. When he was done, he looked her in the eye. "There you go, m'lady..."He said, trailing off. The look he saw there in her eyes made him do a double take. Was that lust? Was she really enjoying this as much as he was? There eyes remained locked and neither noticed that their heads seemed to be getting closer...closer...until their lips touched finally.

A wave of relief and relaxation swept over Sirius. How long he had wanted to do this, and now he was. And she was kissing him back, not yelling at him because he was 'old' even though the veil made him only 25 to her 20.

Hermione snaked her hands out of the tight confines of her blankets and wrapped them around Sirius neck, pulling him closer.

After a few minutes, and reluctantly enough, the two broke apart to take a breathe. Hermione couldn't help but smile. Sirius' face was flushed and he was smiling as well. They just stared at each other for a minute, each searching for any sign of repulsion from the other.

Convinced, Sirius spoke first. "Wow. You don't know how long I have been waiting on that." She looked surprised. Maybe he was scaring her.

"Really? I thought you would only think of me as Harry's friend and therefore too young to start any decent relationship."

He shook his head. "Well, I mean, when you were at school and I was ancient compared to you, but since I have been out of the veil, I have noticed that you turned into a very beautiful and talented witch, that only happens to be 5 years younger than me. I was just afraid that you would still think of me as too much older than you."

Hermione laughed." I have always fancied you. Even when you were 'ancient' as you say. But I have to admit that I wouldn't have done anything had you still been so much older. This veil thing was a blessing in disguise if you ask me. Apart from the fact that everyone thought you were dead, I mean." She finished, stifling yet another yawn.

"Ok. We can work the fine details of this..."He said making a circling hand gesture between them both, "tomorrow. Now, you need to get your sleep, as do I, if we are going to go to Hogwarts tomorrow." He told her.

She nodded." Alright. Till tomorrow, then." She said, leaning up and kissing him lightly on the lips." Goodnight." She said, rolling over in her bed. Sirius left the room and went to his, where, unbeknownst to him, a surprise awaited.