A/N: This chapter is rated M or PG13. To read the NC17 version, go to my LJ (link located in my bio here, on for your patience. I'm sorry this chapter took so long, but it was because the UnCut version (located at my LJ – see bio for link) was nearly 2 chapters long, and I even after the edit for I wanted it still to be lengthy for those not reading the NC17 version.

Well, those that have waited….here it is. I reread it countless times, to make sure it flowed well enough to publish. Thank you so much TO ALL OF YOU that have given this story so many hits. It's been hit over 47,000 times, and I'm sure it's because of your recommendations, your re-readings and more!

When I first got into this ship (honestly, it's the first HP ship I got into for the sole reason of my unhealthy obsession for Gary Oldman) there was NO ONE. There was a small legion of us, thanks to SiriuslyMione website…but, that wasn't enough. But, I'm so glad that to know that I may have had a hand in your "turning".

Enjoy!

Chapter 13

Lying awake in her quiet bedroom, Hermione stared up at the ceiling, counting the cracks and lines that met the walls. She thought about the relaxing, peaceful last few days off. She had spent every moment of them with Sirius, generally just enjoying the company and security. He made her feel beautiful, wanted, desired and most of all, needed; and on her request, he behaved himself.

Never, not even when she'd stroked her hand over him during a heavy moment on the couch did he force her further. He let her control the pace, the intensity, and the level of intimacy that she could handle. He may have come across like a ticking time bomb with her, but he had trained himself to be sated with what she gave him, knowing that eventually, she'd cave.

He kissed her like she was the only one that mattered and showed her affections in even the most simplest of places: the kitchen, the frozen foods section of the grocery store, or by a cash register while paying for something. He'd had all this time to work out a plan to take her up on her offer to see other people quietly and yet, he turned it down. Instead, he started to focus his attention on her, thus building up this tension the two had created.

It was time. She was going to let herself fall in love with him.

Hermione got up and tiptoed down the hallway to stand in the doorway to Sirius's room. His room was dark and smelled of sage. As the full moon's rays snuck through his room like a hazy tease, she was able to make his form out, lying under the sheets.

She ventured inside, her heart rate beginning to increase with the anticipation of what she was about to do. Her felt her hands beginning to shake and swallowed the lump in her dry throat as she approached the bed with every slow step. He lay on his back, his face turned slightly to the right away from her and his arms resting up over his head, as if restrained by invisible handcuffs.

Like a rugged dark angel, his hair was swept all around him, his perfect jaw was shadowed by his beard stubble and the sheets fell down to waist, showing off that perfectly toned body adorned with body art.

With the stealth skills of a cat, she crawled under the covers and carefully moved to straddle him. He barely stirred under her as her thighs shifted on both sides of him, mounting him properly. She couldn't help but smile to herself that she finally had him right where she'd always secretly dreamed – right between her legs.

She ran her fingers lightly over the markings on his chest, noticing every detail that she missed the many other times she looked at him. He began to stir a little, but not enough to wake up. Taking a shallow breath, she leaned over and kissing his lips, holding them there for what felt like hours.

He finally stirred enough to open his eyes and raised his hands to her face, cradling her cheeks between his palms, kissing her back.

"What are you doing, love?" he whispered, savoring every opportunity to touch her plump, swollen lips, that he knew only got that way when she'd been biting them. She was nervous about something.

"I want to be with you." She whispered back, sure of her words.

His mouth curved into a smooth grin as he looked over her innocent face, "You're not under the Imperious curse or anything are you?"

She grinned back, relaxing a little, and shook her head, "No." she paused, biting her lip. "Just your curse."

He stared at her for what felt like hours before he pulled her back to him, making the conscience decision that he was going to go through with this. He'd hoped he would get this far with her, but knew when the time came when she was ready, that there would be no turning back.

As he drank her lips like a hungry tiger, he thought momentarily about the repercussions of their naughty act. Not necessarily what the Order would think, but more along the lines of the two of them. Would this help the situation? Would this strengthen their relationship? What would happen if they didn't work out? What would happen when the law lifted and they were both free to leave one another? Was this just something to entertain them and help pass the time?

Too much thinking. He was horny as hell.

Then, there was another thought. This was Hermione, his godson's best friend. A person that had a hand in saving him, twice; and he wondered if in a mysterious way, she was to be his salvation.

Yes, she was.

Soon after their bodies relaxed and their heartbeats subsided, they were back under the covers turned on their sides with Sirius spooning Hermione as close as he could get.

"I want to let you know that I took care of it." Hermione whispered, smiling at the way Sirius's had clutched her breast as he settled in behind her.

"Took care of what?" he purred, kissing her earlobe.

"The birth control."

Sirius smiled against her neck as he left butterfly light kisses, "So, did I."

"I took a potion."

"I muttered a spell."

She smiled again, closing her eyes, "Then we'll do it your way, from now on. That stuff was absolutely vile."

"That's what you get for letting Snape make it for you." He teased and waited for her playful slap right on cue.

By noon they made love two more times, before Sirius forced his body out of bed to make them coffee. For the sake of any visitors that might feel the need to apparate into their flat, or stick their head through their fireplace, he put his linen pants back on. Before he left the bedroom, he glanced back at the young witch that lay in his bed, grinning at him from the confines of his comforter.

As he entered the kitchen, he saw Hedwig tapping against the window with urgent frustration. He let the owl in, listening to her "woot" with impatience and didn't even stay long enough for a reply. She'd let Sirius figure that out on his own. When he opened the letter, he saw that Harry had written it early that morning and that Hedwig had probably been tapping at their window for at least a couple of hours.

Feeling guilty for leaving Hedwig outside, Sirius didn't bother to try and fetch her back to send another note and just told Hermione that they were going to go over to Grimmauld Place for the afternoon.

In the letter, Harry asked if Sirius would come over to throw a few quaffles around in the backyard, and just spend some time with him. The girls, Hermione and Ginny, pulled out a couple of chairs in the backyard with them, their sunglasses on, and sat back to watch the two men try to play two-men quidditch after a couple of butterbeers in them.

After about thirty minutes, the score stood at Harry falling off his broom twice and Sirius once, after a pathetic attempt of trying to stand on his broom to impress his godson. Neither one had scored any points for themselves, but managed to fly close enough to the nearby table to retrieve their butterbeers.

Hermione and Ginny were quite entertained as they filled their egos and tried to catch a little sun on that overcast London day.

"He seems awfully lighthearted, Hermione. Did you not yell at him this morning?" Ginny commented, noticing Sirius's irregular goofy behavior.

"I don't yell at him, Ginny. He's not that bad." She grinned. "After all, it's been three months."

"Yes, we all know that. And that's why we're surprised you haven't hexed him yet."

"He's not that bad, Ginny." She stressed to her friend, shaking her head at Sirius's ridiculous attempt of a no-hand nose dive, nearly landing in the bushes.

Ginny glanced back over at Sirius, and watched the way he chuckled at Harry when he missed the last toss of the quaffle. "Has he tried anything shady, yet? Has he tried to convince you of an open marriage or finding a way to sneak around with women?"

Hermione shook her head and tipped it back to feel the warm beams of sunlight on her skin, "No, nothing. I actually offered to find a loop hole for him, but he declined."

"Really? Wow."

Hermione realized she may have said a little too much, even to her best girlfriend and added, "He said something along the lines of not wanting to botch this assignment up. So, we make do."

"Well, it's only temporary." Ginny nodded, tilting her head back like Hermione.

Hermione raised her head and looked over at Ginny who didn't notice her sudden alarm and then glanced back over at Sirius who was hovering a high eight feet in the air on his broom, "Right, just temporary."

"Now, if anything were to happen between you…"

Hermione snapped her head, "What makes you say that?"

"Nothing, I was just saying…" Ginny paused, taking her glasses off and looking over at Hermione, as if she just let the cat out of the bag, "Unless…oh, my god!"

Hermione looked away and back up at the two guys who were flying low by their butterbeers that sat on top of the fence. "What?" She faked.

"Hermione! Has something happened?" she pried, using a loud stage whisper.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Don't be silly." She quickly answered and resumed her positioning up towards the sun.

Ginny cupped her mouth, "Something did. That's why he blew up at the meeting the other night."

Hermione remained silent, not paying attention.

"Of course, why didn't I see it before? Well, it figures."

"What figures?" Hermione's attention was finally caught.

"Well, look at him. Look at you, for that matter." She smiled, complimenting her friend. "He's absolutely…well, he's Sirius Black. You two are shacked up in that flat, he's sworn to protect you, he's recently found out that there might be a death threat against him…it's all very romantic, actually."

Hermione turned her head to look at Sirius again. She was right. It was very romantic, all of it. But, take it away, would it still be there?

"So, is he a good kisser?" Ginny baited.

"Very." Hermione quietly sighed, lost in her own thoughts of all this possibly going away.

"There! Got you! I knew it!"

Hermione lowered her chin, trying not to think on it too hard. "Please, don't tell Harry." She slowly confessed, thinking of what would happen after all of this.

"I won't, on one condition." She waited for Hermione to look up, "You tell me how deep you two are."

Hermione smiled sweetly and started to fill her in, up until that very morning, leaving Ginny in a pile of goo. When Harry and Sirius came off of their brooms to go back inside, Ginny did all she could to tear her eyes off the rebellious passionate man. Harry was trying to get her attention, and at the last minute, she finally heard him ask for her help down in the kitchen to get lunch going. She reluctantly followed her boyfriend back into the house; taking one last glance at the rugged older man whose white t-shirt was now dirty with grass stains from falling off his broom. Harry grabbed her hand, not sure why she was acting so strange and pulled her inside, leaving his godfather and best friend to talk.

Sirius saw her face of concern and knelt down to be lower than her, as she sat in the chair. He smiled sweetly for her, raising a dirty hand and caressing her soft cheek. He glanced down at her lips, smirking to himself as he thought of where that mouth had been.

"What's wrong, love?" he whispered, holding onto her chair with his other hand.

She looked at him; his handsome face framed by dark locks, and shook her head, "We can't let Harry know."

He nodded, "I know. Not yet, anyway."

After leaving Harry and Ginny, they took a brief detour to Hogsmeade to pop into one of the shops Hermione needed some herbs from. They walked through the streets, watching the people go on about their normal Saturday routines, trying to be quick about them, but still try to appear relaxed. Hermione could remember the time when people were even afraid to leave their homes, when Voldemort first returned. She was reminding Sirius of the days before her sixth year and how fearful Mrs. Weasley was of even going school shopping with them. Now, it seems that just like the terrorist acts in America, they had to unite and be strong. They had to show him that they weren't going to be afraid and let it totally disrupt their lives. Though not always was the case with many shops, still seeing many that remained empty and desolate while several older establishments, with nothing to hide, remained open and lively.

The serenity, at last, had comforted Hermione and she gripped Sirius's hand, as he interlaced their fingers together, quietly chuckling under his breath about someone walking past dressed as a muggle.

As they rounded the corner of a tall brick building, Hermione positively drunk on her euphoric feeling with Sirius at her side, they saw Headmistress McGonagall ahead of them with a rather concerned look on her face as her eyes scanned the crowd.

Sirius called out, getting her attention and she warmly smiled at the two of them. She ushered someone over to her far right to come and join her in the hello.

Looking somewhat surprised at how close they stood together, she raised an eyebrow, "I see you're playing your role." She whispered, leaning in.

Snape joined them, cocking an eyebrow at the way they were standing, slightly repulsed with the very vision of Sirius.

Sirius smiled, gently squeezing Hermione's hand, "Just doing what we're told. We saw Harry this afternoon and decided that an afternoon out would be convincing enough."

"Right, well, you look the part. Do anything to keep her with us."

Snape glanced over at Hermione, who was otherwise distracted by something in the distance behind them up the street. He looked back at Sirius, and narrowed his brow on him, sizing him up.

"Miss Granger?" Snape purred in a low drawn voice.

"It's Black, Severus. Get it right." Sirius quietly corrected, as if rubbing in his mission.

Snape rolled his eyes as if exhausted with the man already, having only stood by him for sixty seconds, "Mrs. Black…what do you see?"

Hermione didn't look over, but was drawn to something down the street and quickly looked behind her to see if it was the same feeling the other way, as well.

"Something doesn't feel right, Professor." She whispered to him. "Come with me." She requested, letting go of Sirius's hand. She thought perhaps he may be able to recognize a face and not look like such a target with Sirius at their side.

Left behind and somewhat concerned as they got no explanation, McGonagall held Sirius back to let her go on with Snape. His eyes narrowed on her never leaving his sight, watching her every step, her every hand gesture, and every curl down her back bounce.

"I'm sure it's fine, Sirius. Let her go with him to find out whatever it is she senses." McGonagall added, intrigued by his concern for her. "She's turning into an excellent Auror, you know. I've heard great things from her superiors at the Ministry."

Sirius quietly chuckled under his breath, "The Ministry is made up of the wrong kind, Minerva. I keep getting a bad vibe every time she leaves for work. I can't stop her, she has to go."

"Be careful of what you say, Sirius." She confirmed, patting his arm, "You're doing your job just fine. Several are still afraid of you. They're afraid you might just fly off the handle, with no fear of going back into Azkaban."

Sirius shuttered, glancing over at her with the very idea of going back. Though they had been able to regain control over the prison itself after the abandonment of the Dementors, it still shook Sirius up to think of that place. For the time being, he only used the term as a threat against others, with absolutely no intention of returning, if he could help it.

"Well, let them have that fear in their blood, then. It's a healthy fear."

"But, I see you and Hermione have learned to get along? It's pretty convincing to the outside eye. Nice work."

Sirius smiled, keeping their secret, "Well, she's a nice girl. I've grown to learn how valuable she actually is to the other side and it's easy to play the part."

She leaned closer to Sirius and whispered in his ear, "Do what you have to, to keep her on our side. Don't let up. The first hint that this isn't real and she'll be pulled from you immediately. They'll find a slip in your contract and-"

"Minerva!" he interrupted, for fear that she was saying too much of the obvious and more than what was necessary.

"I know. You sometimes need reminding of what we're up against."

"I'm well aware of it. She's not going." Sirius whispered more to himself than anything. He watched her come back into his view with Snape at her side, walking with her chin up and her eyes darting left and right, slightly paranoid.

"Hermione, might I have a word with you?" McGonagall requested as Hermione rejoined them.

Leaving Snape with Sirius, the two men watched as the women slowly stepped away from them through the other shoppers walking on their way. Wizards and witches passed by them, paying no attention to the two statue-like men that were allies only by force, rather then by choice.

Snape slowly glanced over at Sirius and furrowed his brow as he concentrated. After a few minutes, his eyes darkened and his face turned nearly to stone as he quietly called for Sirius's attention, which was otherwise still on Hermione, across the sidewalk.

"Been sweetening the pot, Black?"

Sirius snapped his neck with the vocal interruption, "What are you going on about, Snivellus?"

"You're twice her age, man. Forget it." Snape chided, demonstrating his masterful skills of Occlumency.

Sirius glared at Snape, disgusted by his mental invasion, "Mind your own business, Snape. It's none of your concern."

"Your mission was to protect her, not bed her!" Snape growled, looking over Sirius with a pant of disgust.

Sirius turned his entire body towards his old school classmate, "I'm fucking risking my neck for her. You needn't be concerned about how I do it. I'm sorry that since you're not the pureblood you wish you were that you couldn't step up to the challenge."

"I wonder how your Harry would take this news."

Within seconds, both Snape and Sirius had their wands drawn at one another in the middle of the street. Passers-by stopped in their tracks or walked clear around them, hesitant to walk by and be stunned by a stray hex.

Headmistress McGonagall glanced over at the pair across the street and immediately broke her conversation with Hermione to run over and separate them.

"Put those away! Don't you two dare start anything here in the middle of the street!" she shouted in a stage whisper, grasping both wizards' wand hands. "You needn't draw attention to yourselves anymore then you already have!" Hermione was quick to catch up, returning to her spot next to Sirius and gently pushing his arm down to his side, as McGonagall pulled Snape back like an attacking dog. "Now, turn and walk away, both of you. Hermione, we'll talk soon. I'll send you an owl."

Hermione nodded, her eyes still fixed on Sirius who had alarmed her with his sudden defense. As the two Hogwarts teachers walked away, Sirius put an arm around Hermione's back and quickly moved her along to walk with him, vacating their active spot.

"What was that about?" Hermione asked, leaning more against him as they fell into step together, walking down the sidewalk of the busy shops.

Sirius, still quite upset, shook his head, causing a few dark layers to obstruct his view. He nervously ran his hand through his hair, forcing himself to smile for her and pretend everything was all right. "Nothing for you to worry about. He's just being a dick, like usual."

Hermione decided to let it go, though she was absolutely starving for the truth from him. He seemed to be a bit tense over whatever had transpired between he and Snape and she felt that it wasn't a good time to press the subject further. Their early evening was already interrupted by their Order business, and Sirius was quickly trying to salvage the bit of peace they had, prior to their interruption.