A/N: I wanted to post this two days ago but time got away from me. I'll try to post the next chapter around Christmas, though I won't make any promises.

Thanks for all the patience and the love you give this story.

Enjoy! ^^

When Dumbledore had said he and the other professors would help as much as they could against the danger outside, he'd meant it. Especially the seventh years were being prepared for the danger out there, knowing they wouldn't be coming back here. It was especially clear during their DADA classes.

One of the first classes of DADA consisted of learning the patronus charm. This charm had two major qualities. The first was to protect you from dementors, the second was that it was a quick and easy way to deliver a message to someone. Hermione already knew this. She even knew how to get a full body patronus.

The only difference was that she used a few different happy memories to get there. She still thought of a few good moments with Harry and Ron but it seemed like those memories were getting further and further away from her ever so slowly. She made up for it by using good memories she had experienced here, her new permanent timeline. Memories including the four marauders, Lily, the Weasleys.

"Okay class, now that you know what to do let's practice. And remember that it is possible to not get a full body patronus on the first try."

Alice tried but only got a few wisps. The same went for Marlene and Peter. A few others managed to get some sort of full body patronus – you could already see a few legs or a tail or ears. And then there were the three prodigy marauders and Lily.

James' patronus was a stag though she already knew that. Lily's patronus was a doe. The surprise on their faces was hilarious, realizing that their patronuses complemented each other just like they did.

Remus' patronus was a wolf. She couldn't say if it was a werewolf to be specific but a wolf nonetheless. Hermione could see the slight disappointment on his face and put a hand on his shoulder. "I personally think that wolves are some of the best animals out there." He gave her a smile, grateful, appreciative.

And of course Sirius managed to produce a full body patronus without even blinking. It was a big dog, it almost looked like his animagus form. "Look at that. That wasn't so hard."

"I always knew you were a dog deep down," came Lily's reply. Hermione just laughed. If she only knew.

"It's your turn, Mione. See if you can get it on the first try."

"I already know what my patronus is." She felt kinda smug.

He raised an eyebrow. "Do you now? How?"

"I learned this back in fifth year."

"In fifth year?" came James' voice. She nodded. "Then what is it."

"It's an otter."

"Prove it," Sirius told her, his voice holding a challenge.

She closed her eyes, going through her memories and picking the happiest ones. When she opened her eyes she was ready. She cast the spell and watched her patronus take form. Only it wasn't an otter. It was a dog. A dog? It resembled Sirius' patronus in some ways. How?

"That's not an otter, love," he told her.

"But how?" The confusion was clear on her face. When did her patronus change? How did it change. "Professor?"

Professor Gray made his way towards her. "What is it, Miss Granger?"

"My patronus is a dog but it used to be an otter. Can a patronus change?"

"They can but only when a very heavy emotional change happened."

"Like?"

"Like falling in love. A love so powerful that it changes you from the inside." With that he left. The marauders and the girls were staring at her, some smiling, others a smirk on their faces. Her patronus had changed. And not in just anything. A dog. It had changed into a dog. One that resembled Sirius'. She was in love with Sirius and now they all knew. They had all seen the evidence.

Sirius walked towards her, the smile on his face a mix of adoring and amused. "So you love me?" She didn't know what to say. Of course she loved him. But it was like her mouth wasn't working properly.

After a moment she said, "Apparently."

"Well apparently I love you too."

When classes were over he didn't let go of her for a single moment. He would hold her hand, have his arm around her, cuddle into her, pull her into his side. He was ecstatic. She loved him.

His family hadn't been great. Hell, they had been absolutely horrible, horrendous. But he had his friends and he would do anything for them. Then he got to know the Potters and loved them as if they were his own family. But he had never thought he would have this.

As far as relationships went, the only examples he had had for years were his parents and aunts. That were no marriages out of love but out of duty, out of blood. When he met the Potters he saw what a marriage made out of love looked like and he was envious. Sirius wanted that but didn't believe he would ever have it. Not with the way he was raised and how some people looked at him.

So he didn't do relationships. He flirted, he kissed, went out on dates and slept around. But he never did relationships, not really. And then Sirius had met her, Hermione. She had intrigued him and when she finally started opening up to them he started to see her as a friend. That friendship grew into something more and now here he was.

He was in love with her and she loved him. Sirius didn't have to be envious anymore about the Potters or about anyone else. He knew now how it felt, knew it was possible, even for someone like him. Hermione knew who he was, how he was raised, what happened. And she accepted it all. Maybe a marriage out of love wasn't so impossible anymore as he had once thought.

They were sitting in Lily and James' quarters that night. Sirius was lying with his head in the brunette's lap and she was carding her fingers through his hair. Out of nowhere he said, "Tell me again."

He had done this several times now since class had finished. Always asking – sometimes it seemed a little more like demanding – her to tell him she loved him. And she would indulge him without a second thought, finding it cute and adorable. Plus, it didn't hurt that he would always say it back. "I love you."

The smile that crossed his face – pure bliss and contentment – was something she could look at forever. "I love you too."

"If I had known he would be like this when he found out I would've rather you hadn't cast that patronus charm, Hermione," James told her.

"It's not like you're any better, Prongs. You didn't even need a patronus to act like that," Remus informed him.

"Talking about the patronus, why were you so disappointed in yours, Remus?" Lily asked him. Before he had a chance to answer, to come up with something she went on. "It's not because you're a werewolf that a wolf as a patronus is a bad thing." She said it matter of factly, like she was talking about the weather.

Everyone fell silent, Sirius shot up from his place on Hermione's lap. No one knew what to say, what to do. "You knew?" Hermione asked the redhead.

"Of course I knew. I've known for a while. What I don't know is why none of you ever told me anything."

"What? Do you expect us to tell everyone we talk to? You just started treating us as friends since Mione got here. Can you blame us?"

She looked a little hurt but couldn't deny the fact that he was right.

"You knew?" Remus asked again, as if he couldn't believe it. She nodded. "And you don't mind? You're not repulsed?"

"Why would I? It doesn't change who you are, right? And I bet you didn't ask for it." He didn't know what to say. He looked at Hermione and remembered how she had reacted, almost the same. A smile of disbelief crossed his face, they were so alike.

"Thank you," he told her. And not only her, Hermione, his friends. They knew what he was and had never abandoned him because of it. He was so extremely lucky to have them.

Sirius lied back down, relaxing a little. That was until Peter opened his mouth. "Does this mean she knows about us too? Like Hermione did?" Their eyes went wide.

"What do I know about you? What does Hermione know?" She looked at the brunette, her eyes inquisitive and piercing. She didn't want any secrets between them anymore.

Hermione looked down at Sirius as if asking him for help but she could see that he was still trying to come up with something. "It's not my place to tell," she told the redhead finally.

James let out a sigh and said, "Maybe we should just tell her. She can keep a secret, seeing as she knew Remus was a werewolf. And Hermione knows, so why not her?"

A silence. Then James, Peter and Sirius stood up and looked at Lily. "We're animagi," James told her.

She didn't really believe them, the look on her face enough to know that much. So they did the next best thing, they turned into their animagus form. Suddenly a stag, a rat and a big black dog were standing in front of her. Her mouth dropped open.

And not only hers, Hermione's too. It was the first time she had seen James and Sirius up close in their animagus form. It wasn't exactly the first time she saw Padfoot up close but with the way he looked now, it could as well have been. James looked big and majestic. And Sirius… The biggest difference she saw from what she knew him to look like after he had escaped Azkaban was that he looked healthy, strong, his fur thick and soft.

"You really are animagi," the redhead stated. They turned back, resuming their seats.

"You look beautiful in that form," Hermione told her boyfriend in awe, still processing the difference between now and the past. Well, her past.

"Thanks, love."

After she let it sink in, Lily thanked them. "Thanks for letting me know. How long have you known?" she asked the brunette.

"Since last year."

"And you didn't tell me?"

"It wasn't my secret to tell."

Then she spoke as if she realized something. "So every time I made a dog comment about Sirius and you would laugh, this is what you were thinking about? Even today in class?"

Hermione grinned, doing her best to not laugh out loud. "Yes."

They fell asleep there, talking and talking until they closed their eyes one by one.