A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews, favorites and follows! I am pleased you liked seeing a bit of Hermione Black, and of course, our fave - Sirius! You can follow me over on tumblr (nauticalparamour) where I post sneak peeks, story updates and answer questions.

Please let me know what you thought of chapter sixteen and be on the lookout for chapter seventeen soon!

1997

"It's okay if you are annoyed with him," Alphard Black said, pushing his black hair out of his grey eyes and giving Hermione a roguish smile. "Between you and I, Harry and I think that Draco is insane for not just asking you out already. Especially now that you and Inglebee are no more."

Hermione blushed intensely, wishing that they were not having this conversation, or if Alphard insisted that they would not be having it while they wandered around Hogsmeade with one another. By themselves. Somehow, the pair of them have ended up as the odd pair out who didn't have dates. Harry had asked Daphne Greengrass to go with him, and Draco...Draco had asked Pansy Parkinson.

It was a betrayal that she never would have expected. Pansy had always gone out of her way to be rude to Hermione, especially when she figured out that she wasn't going anywhere from Draco's life. Pansy's critiques of Hermione were endless, from her looks to her smarts to her blood status. She made it all too clear that someone with Hermione's background had no business being a friend to the Malfoys.

"Draco doesn't need to ask me out anywhere," Hermione insisted, though if she was completely honest with herself, she could admit that she wanted nothing more than to give a relationship a try with the boy who had turned her life upside down since she was six years old. "He and I are just good friends, Alphard."

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard it from the both of you, Granger," Alphard scoffed, rolling his eyes."But don't you guys ever wonder? You get along great normally...you could have chemistry."

"I wouldn't want to throw our friendship away for the chance to have a kiss," Hermione scolded him. That was what held her back from trying anything more with Draco, even though she could admit that it was something she thought about more than ever. "Draco is my best friend."

"Alright, Hermione," Alphard said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to stave off the cold of the wintry winds. "You don't have to convince me."

Hermione turned her head into Alphard's side, enjoying the comfort he provided to her. Of the three Slytherin boys, Alphard was by far the tallest, towering over her. "Thanks," she said feeling contrite. "Three Broomsticks?" she offered, thinking that she might enjoy a butterbeer.

The other boy nodded, leading the way towards the cozy little pub. On the way, they walked in front of Madame Puddifoot's, and saw Draco and Pansy sitting together at the table in the window. Pansy looked as if she was having the time of her life, her fingers tightly wound around Draco's wrist, as if she wasn't going to be letting go any time soon.

Blinking back tears, Hermione scoffed, catching Alphard's attention. "I don't mind if Draco dates someone else," she whispered, wondering if he'd even be able to hear her. "But did it have to be her? You know what she says about me being muggleborn."

"Hey, you know none of us feel that way, right?" the Black heir asked, wanting to be sure. "My parents fought against Voldemort and so did Harry's. And Draco's mum has done everything she can to set her and Draco apart from what Lucius did. Draco is disgusted that his father could have supported someone like Voldemort. I guarantee that if Pansy tried to say something about you to him, he would put a stop to it immediately."

She nodded, but a terrible little part of her wondered if maybe Draco didn't prefer to be with someone like Pansy, who was a pureblood and had a family that actually understood magic. Her parents tried, but there was no pretending that she wasn't the black sheep of her family.

When they got to the Three Broomsticks, they squeezed into a booth with one another, pints in each of their hands. "My Aunt Hermione would kick his arse if she ever thought he was acting like a little bigot," Alphard added.

That certainly piqued her interest. Aunt Hermione was a presence in Draco's life, but was also one of the only people in Draco's family that she hadn't met. She'd met both of his grandfather's, and Hermione's husband Regulus, but it seemed that their paths never seemed to cross, not even when they should have. "What's she like, your Aunt Hermione?"

"She's one hell of a witch," Alphard said, sounding impressed. "She didn't get a lot of coverage during the war, but she and my Uncle Regulus played a huge role in bringing down Voldemort. You know, she reminds me a lot of you. But maybe that's just because you share a name."

"I'd love to meet her someday," Hermione said softly, thinking that she really would like to know the mysterious woman who shared her name, especially with how highly everyone spoke of her.

Alphard and Hermione whiled the rest of the afternoon away in their little booth, sitting shoulder to shoulder and drinking more butterbeer than they probably should have. As the light went down, Hermione realized how much fun she had with Alphard. It wasn't typical that the two of them would spend much time alone together. "I had a great day with you, Alphard," she said, looking into his eyes.

"No problem," he said, his eyes focusing in on her lips.

Before she knew what was happening, he was leaning down and pressing his lips against hers in a quick kiss. Hermione was stunned for a moment, before she was pulling back, a gasp bubbling up from her throat. That had been unexpected. It had also felt odd...like kissing her brother. "Was that...was that weird for you too?" she asked, cautiously.

Alphard was nodding sheepishly. "Yeah," he said with a frown. "Sorry, Hermione, I figured I would give it a shot...see if we had any chemistry," he explained. "Guess not."

Hermione could agree. "Should we just...forget that this happened?" she offered, not wanting things to be weird between her and Alphard.

"Of course," he said with a laugh. "Let's get you back to the castle. We can get you to the library to do a bit more NEWTs revision before dinner."