A/N: Brilliant readers and reviewers, I thank you for sticking with this story. I know that I'm writing both at the same time (RETURNED being the other one), it's only because I've got more written for that one, than I do this one, that I've posted the chapters a little faster. This one is only about half a chapter ahead as I write it, trying to catch up with reviews with any holes I may have missed. I've got over 16,000 hits for this story and it's to YOU I thank for the reviews and such, (both there and LJ) that keep me writing it.

Sirius and Hermione – I adore them. They're all I write. I find that their relationship (though, extremely uncanon – though, I almost got hope after reading HBP) is challenging to write, but not difficult. Rest assure that there will be some good old smut (for those old enough to read it) for those craving that these two just jump in the sack already!

Chapter 7

"Are you two going to stay in the kitchen all night, or are you going to come into the sitting room and socialize?" Sirius purred as he walked over to Hermione and Ginny, who were at the sink in the kitchen, cleaning up after dinner.

Hermione looked up from talking with Ginny and smiled. Being around him at their flat, she'd noticed that Sirius had a certain kind of walk or swagger, as she called it. It was a cross between a strut and prowl and it made you feel like you were always his target or prey, even if he was just asking something as casual as the weather.

He stepped closer to the two girls, laying a hand around the small of Hermione's back and inquired if either lady would like a glass of wine that Remus had opened. He took their orders, gave the two young ladies a wink and walked back out into the sitting room.

Ginny couldn't help but grin as she looked over at her friend, when Sirius had left the room, "What was that?"

Hermione, still slightly dazed looked back at Ginny as if she had just made any random sound, "What?"

"That! The swagger he just gave you when he walked in, the touching your back, the low seducing voice," she mocked, "Are you two…" she didn't finish.

Hermione tilted her head and resumed washing the dishes the muggle way, avoiding her question. "No, don't you dare."

Ginny pressed on, nudging Hermione on the arm to get better gossip, "What was that? Was that the same guy that used to live here and bounce around this place like a ticking time bomb?"

"He's really not that bad," she explained, scrubbing a pan with fierce force, doing anything to preoccupy herself, rather than answer her insinuating questions. "We just get along better than we did before. We have to, we have no choice. We have to see each other all the time so, it's just easier to be civil."

Ginny crossed her arms over her chest, trying to size up Hermione. She smirked and slowly leaned in, dropping her voice to a whisper, "Fine, then answer me this, honestly."

Hermione glanced over at Ginny as she scrubbed, a bit nervous what her redheaded friend was going to ask.

"If you had to stay married to him, for the rest of your life, and I mean that this law doesn't lift," she began, "could you do it?"

Hermione started to shake her head, not wanting to answer any question that might incriminate her later. "It's not happening, Ginny. Eventually, one side will win this war and by then, who knows. I have good true feelings that we are going to come out of this ahead, we're going to defeat Him and we'll have the right people back in the Ministry and everything…" her words started to trail off in thoughts of "what if". "What if" the war never ended? "What if" the good side wasn't the ones to prevail? "What if" she had to stay married to Sirius to remain safe? This wasn't fair.

Not to him or her. It just had to happen, this she understood, and she was lucky enough to find a wizard on her own side that was willing to stand up for her. However, she couldn't help but dwell on it when it was teased that she might never be single again, or better yet, be married to someone she loved. She and Sirius were doing fine, yes, but it was all an act. The holding hands, the hugging, it was all for the others to see. None of the feelings mattered. The only thing that did was she and Sirius were getting along much better than what they had expected and would help each other out when needed. Even if it meant masturbating in the wee hours of the morning.

"Let the dishes clean themselves!" Harry shouted from the sitting room.

Hermione shook her head out of her funk, smirking over at Ginny with how her beloved treated them. Ginny forced the dishes out of Hermione's hands and charmed the scrubbing sponge to clean them on its own.

The girls entered the room, coming upon a severe game of wizard chess played by Harry and Tonks, as Ron, Sirius and Remus watched, but discussed the quidditch match from last night. Ginny took a seat next to Harry, laying her head on his shoulder, commenting on how his latest move put him in check. Tonks scratched her head, turning her hair purple and smiled, clucking her tongue at Harry with his poor move.

Hermione took her glass of wine that Sirius was handing to her, flashing her a quick smile. He pushed his way between Ron and Remus to stand next to her, away from everyone else.

"Are you tired?" he inquired, watching her cross her arms and watch Harry make another bad move.

She shook her head, cringing with Tonks's move and looked over at Sirius, "No, I'm fine. I think your potion is wearing off." She smirked at him. She really was appreciative of the morning brew, as it helped her through her day without suffering from the repercussions of late night drinking. "I had a nice day with you today. Thank you."

"I did, too. I think we should do it, again," he suggested. "And not because we have to."

Hermione's smile faltered into a simple grin distracted by his suggestion. "Now that we've proved we won't kill each other?"

"I didn't say that." He chuckled, "I still think we haven't had half as many good rows as we ought to. You're making this far too easy on me. You're not fighting with me enough to stir anything up. I was hoping that if we did do more things together, we'll eventually end up fighting like cats and dogs and then it'll be just like old times."

Harry looked up from his game towards his godfather and Hermione. He smiled when he saw them friendly with each other and was relieved that they had learned to tolerate one another. Granted, Harry wasn't there for what went on once they went back to their flat, but it was just as well. They obviously had put some water under the bridge, or at least were starting to, since he did catch Sirius wink at Hermione once or twice, that resulted in a silly "old Hermione" giggle that he hadn't heard in a long time.

During his thoughts, Harry missed Tonks obliterate a King's Knight, taking the square.

"Pay attention, boy!" Sirius called out, witnessing Harry's poor chess skills first hand.

Sunday night, the night before a new work week began; Hermione emerged from her bedroom, book in hand and quietly padding over to the couch in her bare feet. Sprawled out along the couch, Sirius laid with one foot on the coffee table and one leg down the length of the couch. She cringed when she saw his foot up on her grandmother's coffee table, but was at least relieved that he was shoeless. Her constant nagging of him to remove his shoes, prior to resting his foot on the table had finally registered, and she privately smirked to herself that he was listening.

Sirius looked up at her, standing by the arm of the couch and immediately took his foot down from the coffee table. "Sorry," he whispered, putting his foot on the floor.

She shook her head, "At least you heard me to take your shoe off." She glanced down at his other foot spread along the length of the couch to the cushion closest to her, "I was actually going to ask you to move your foot here."

"Why? Can I not spread out on the couch, now?" he mocked, lifting one eyebrow.

She frowned, "No, I'm asking you to move it, so I could sit with you! Don't be so smart."

His face changed, immediately apologetic and quickly moved his foot, elated that she was going to join him to watch muggle television. She thanked him and took her seat, opened up her book and resumed reading where she had left off.

Sirius watched her, her hair falling over her shoulders as she ducked her head down to read, then glancing at the television, making a mental note of how loud it was. "This isn't distracting to read? Would you like me to turn it off?"

Hermione looked up at him, narrowing her brow like he just said something she didn't know what language it was in, "No, I was just sitting here so I could read next to you."

"So, you're sitting on the couch, reading your book, so you can spend time with me?" he worked out, like it was a riddle.

Hermione just stared at him, "Why are you making such an issue with this? Yes, I am. Is that alright?" she asked, a little frustrated with them going round and round with the subject.

Sirius just smiled, glanced back at the television, and said, "Yes."

And he just dropped the subject with a slight grin poised over his lips and resumed channel surfing with his wand.

Hermione chuckled to herself, now relieved that it had gotten through to his thick head. With her peripheral vision, she saw him smile, knowing that he was quite humored by their subtle row. He'd done well with getting under her skin and she just shook her head, finding the moment funny. She glanced over at him, through curtained locks and saw him bite his lip, suppressing another smart remark.

She puckered her lips, and furrowed her brow and waited….

…and waited….

…and waited…

Finally he glanced over by the corner of his eye, not turning to face her completely, "I know you're waiting…"

She broke into a girlish giggle and quickly closed her book, using her finger to mark her place and used it to playfully hit him. He cowered under his arms, laughing and ducking his head to avoid tender hits of kindness, before she settled back down, giving his leg a proper smack, before resuming her reading.

Still smiling, Sirius continued his television channel surfing and settled back into the couch, putting his foot back up on the coffee table.

The air in the flat seemed to be much more pleasant. There was a sense of ease and overall content amongst the walls of their muggle flat. They'd started to get into a routine, always respecting eachothers' privacy that they discovered that random acts of kindness between them, dealt a nice day.

If Hermione was up before Sirius (most of the time), she set the muggle coffee maker to brew around the general hour he arose. She'd leave him a note to say where she'd be after work, if she had errands to run, and come home to a new note left by him, informing her of the same. A couple of times, Sirius had dinner ready or he confirmed plans to meet up with everyone, waiting for her to come home to take her with him. Other nights, he'd just say he was going out, with no idea when he'd come home. On said nights, Hermione found something to do to stay awake, just to make sure he was home alright. He never seemed to notice her still up, but he always seemed to make sure he said good-night when he went into his bedroom.

To masquerade as a married couple, Hermione kept her things in Sirius's room, in her bureau. Many times, she'd just walk in there, knowing that they had an understanding that she wouldn't enter, if the door was closed, so she wouldn't have to interrupt him doing "man things", as she called it.

Their general friendship seemed to improve, because after five weeks of marriage/living together, they'd started to find out each other's quarks. Knowing these things just seemed to make things easier, and more convincing if they got along behind closed doors, then just in the general wizarding world.

One night in particular Hermione quietly padded in bare feet into Sirius's room, where he was lounging on his bed, reading a book by a muggle author, Hermione had turned him onto. Something about finding clues in the Mona Lisa.

She went to her bureau, smiling at him when she entered and pulled out the second drawer to search for something. Sirius lifted his eyes in her direction, noticing that she had tissues between her toes, because she had just painted her toenails. He grinned to himself that he really ought to suppress his vicious thoughts, but instead, opened his mouth to say something subtle.

"You know, I really think you should keep your knickers in here." He grinned, raising his eyebrows when she glanced back at him to show herself rolling her eyes. She had gotten used to this by now. "I'm a bit offended that you don't keep your lacy frilly ones in those drawers."

She found the pair of yoga shorts she was looking for and turned to face him, hands on her hips, "I wouldn't leave anything of the sort anywhere by you. How do you know I have lacy frilly knickers?"

He grinned like a Cheshire cat, childishly wiggling his feet, "I've seen your laundry," he said, giving her a wink.

She rolled her eyes again, wobbling to the door, careful not to walk right out of her toe tissue, "I wouldn't trust you with them, anyway. I might come in here to find them scattered all over your floor after you've….." she bit her tongue playfully, suddenly too shy to finish, but added, "Or find you wearing them."

Sirius dropped his grin, finding the accusation not as funny – he would NOT wear ladies underwear! "Not funny, Granger. You better wobble out of here, faster."

She turned before leaving his room completely, "Oh, is Sirius upset that I touched a sore spot?" she teased.

"Run, Granger." He sneered, slowly lifting his book to ignore her.

Hermione mocked him, doing her best impression of him, as she flirtatiously exited, flipping her hair and winking ever so dramatically.

A Friday night rolled around and Hermione came out of her room and glanced at the clock. The antique clock's hands pointed to the eleven and a little past the twelve. Over on the couch she saw the back of Sirius's head and a raised hand with his wand out, using it to change the channels, again. As the stations flipped, she couldn't help but feel slightly to blame for his listlessness. Actually, she had all to blame why he was home on a night of all party nights, because he wasn't allowed to flirt with other women, go home with other women, or appear in anyway shape or form irresponsible. He had to keep up this façade of taking it seriously and not walk the line to possibly screw up. It then left her with a content feeling that Sirius was able to accomplish this difficult task. He appeared to be, and she hesitated to admit it, growing up.

Regardless, his life of celibacy was all due to her. He'd been so good, for so long, she had mulled over the idea for days that there must be a way; a way to keep things private and quiet, that no one would suspect anything.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she took a deep breath to relax, before initiating the topic with him. She rounded the couch and saw his body slumped and relaxed within the confines of the leather sofa with one leg bent and under his other thigh. Upon seeing her check on him, he lowered his wand to look at her and just smile. He loved it when she was in the same room as he. There was something about having a person that really cared about your well being, and being quite pretty to look at, wander in now and then to check on you.

She smiled back and her eyes glanced down at the vacant spot on the couch before taking a seat. She turned her body to face him, listening to the sound of the television set go off with a flick of his wrist. Sirius shifted a little in his relaxed position to better see her. Waiting for her to talk to him about whatever it was that was concerning her, he gave her a comforting smile.

"I've been thinking," she started, her eyes falling to a nearby book he had on the coffee table, "about the fact that we're alone."

Sirius raised an eyebrow for her, a bit unsure of her conversational direction.

"About the notion that we can't see other people, or date, or do whatever."

"I'm listening." Sirius tiled his head, inquisitive.

"I've thought about it, and I think that if you were extremely discreet, then it would be alright. I mean, it really is quite unfair to us."

Sirius still wasn't sure what brought this on, but at the same time he wasn't sure how to go about answering her, "Now, when you say that you think it's unfair, is that in general, or to each other?"

"To each other." She sighed, looking down at the floor. She felt her cheeks warm, truly not enjoying the conversation that she had started. She rather liked having Sirius to herself, even if he was just a housemate. She couldn't help but feel a smidgen of pride in knowing that he couldn't be with anyone else, except her. This man. This legend. This gorgeous being with his foot propped up on her grandmother's coffee table.

Sirius looked away and nodded, "I see." His mind hadn't really been on what he had been missing out on lately, because he had learned to adjust to his new lifestyle.

"I mean, it's because of me that you've had to change your complete lifestyle. I think it would be okay, if we saw other people."

Sirius just nodded again, listening to her every word, finding himself surprisingly disappointed that she had brought this up. Taking a few moments to fully absorb what she was saying, it occurred to him that there was only one reason why this conversation was being instigated – Hermione had met someone else.

"So, what's his name?"

"Who?" she asked, jolting her head back to his attention.

"The guy you want to see? There has to be someone in order for you to bring this up."

Hermione just looked at him and shook her head like he was telling her that the color black was really white, "No, there isn't anyone."

"Then, why are we having this conversation?"

"Because of you. I feel horrible that you're home this late on a Friday night. I'm the reason why you're home, why you're living this facade of married life and not being happy."

For a moment, Sirius just looked at her as if she had two heads. He hinted to a small grin and quietly said, "I'm actually quite happy, Hermione."

Hermione's brow furrowed in query, not sure if she was hearing him right.

"I've started to grow accustomed to this new life. Granted, it is trying at times with the social aspects, but for the most part, I'm not unhappy. I'm content." He watched how she just remained speechless, absorbing his every word as if English was new to her and she was utterly fascinated with it. "Playing a husband has been easy and I've rather enjoyed it. I know there's a lot more to it, but for now…" he started to trail off, slowly catching up to the thoughts that started to pop into his head.

Her eyes fell for a moment, listening how his voice started to trail off. Suddenly, she felt like something had to push forward. There was something bugging her about what he just said, "You're content playing a husband, or," she paused, "or playing my husband?"

Sirius was still and his heart rate started to increase with every breath he exhaled. Had she been learning Occlumency? Was she actually reading his thoughts?

Before it got too awkward, he bit the bullet and answered honestly, "Playing your husband."

Hermione raised her eyes and as if she was committing him to a new memory. She studied the way is brow furrowed when he was serious, the way his lips were poised from the last word he spoke and how his soft dark hair cut across his chiseled jaw. He was, in a matter of speaking, absolutely gorgeous to her.

"I'm really happy with how comfortable we've gotten, putting aside our pasts. I know that we both never expected this in a hundred years, but now that we're in it…" he lost his respectable train of thought and reverted back to the flirtatious, but cautious, Sirius, "You're the first one I see in the morning, and the last one before I go to bed. It's comforting to have you nearby, Hermione."

Hermione wasn't as stunned as she expected herself to be, and felt the same for Sirius. She loved waking up to the sound of him tinkering away in the kitchen, often having her tea ready when she woke up. She even enjoyed cooking dinner for him, even when he wasn't going to join her and leaving it in the refrigerator for him later. She often folded his clothes if they were in a clean laundry basket and found herself doing more than expected. When they had their occasional row, it was never left saying hurtful things, but more of a stubborn draw between them. They had grown…comfortable.

Hermione's eyes dropped back down to the coffee table and smiled sweetly, "Whenever you're around, I always feel so safe. I see now, how lucky I am, to have you protecting me. For a long time, I misunderstood you, but now," she ducked her head, "I get you."

"I half expected to want to throw myself back into the Veil, after two weeks married to you." He winked.

Hermione's eyes shot up, searching for him to be joking and was relieved when she saw the corner of his mouth ease into a smirk and flash her a wink.

"Yes, well, I never thought we'd make it this long, to tell you the truth."

"Guess we proved them wrong." He purred with confidence.

Hermione slowly allowed that shy smile to come out in her, feeling her cheeks begin to warm with his eyes on her. She was so relieved that he showed no interest in seeing other people, which left her to hope….

He never would. Not a chance in hell. Don't waste your time and keep dreaming.

"I guess we did." She whispered, lost in her hopeless thoughts.

Sirius watched her as she held a look of content over her angelic face. She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and stood up from the couch. Slightly saddened of her departure, he asked her where she was going.

She looked back at him, "In my room."

"Are you going to bed?"

"Not yet."

"Then, would you care to sit with me to watch television?" he tilted his head to ask, lifting his arm to invite her to sit next to him.

She watched how innocent he appeared to be, and smiled, nodding her head. She slowly turned to go back to the couch, stepping past her normal cushion on the other end of the couch to sit closer to him. Once seated, he casually draped his arm around the back of the couch, letting his fingers lightly touch her shoulders and with a flick of the wrist, he put the television back on. After a few minutes, Hermione felt relaxed enough next to him to lean closer, settling in against him. He felt his heart skip a beat as she pressed her feather-like weight against him, getting comfortable. As she stilled, he slowly moved his arm lower, draping it around her shoulder, protectively guarding her to him.

Hermione leaned her head back, resting against his chest and listened as his heart beat began to slow down. She smiled to herself knowing that he was just as nervous as she was.

Maybe, there would be a chance.