A/N: Hi, I know it's been a while. Sorry for disappearing but I've got a good reason (or well reasons actually). I'll give a short summary. I know I promised a chapter around Christmas but the week leading up to the holidays my laptop crashed and while going home from shopping for a new one I got hit by a car. So I had to go to the hospital and make appointments with doctors and the police to sort everything out all the while I had to study for my exams and when my exams finished I immediately had to start my internship (which I'm still in the middle of btw). So sorry again for the short unexpected hiatus but as you can see life got in the way. But enough about that. Here is a new chapter (finally) and I hope you like it.

Enjoy ^^

When Hermione woke up she noticed she was lying partly on top of Sirius on the same sofa they had been sitting on the previous night. She looked around. They had fallen asleep here and it seemed like the rest was still knocked out.

She looked up, looking at Sirius. He looked so peaceful when he slept. Peaceful and beautiful. No crease in his brows, no mischief to be sensed. Just him, relaxed, asleep. This was a sight she could get used to.

The brunette laid her head back down, back on his chest. He still had his arms around her, even when asleep he wouldn't let go. It was sweet and endearing. She exhaled, trying to settle back and maybe get some more sleep in.

It didn't work. Once she was awake it was hard to go back to sleep. That didn't mean, however, that she couldn't just lay there and enjoy the quiet. She listened to his heartbeat, steady and firm beneath her ear. It was calming.

Hermione didn't know how much time passed but eventually she felt Sirius stirring a little beneath her. She looked up and met his gaze, sleep still lingering in his eyes. "Good morning," she told him in a soft voice.

A soft smile crossed his face. "Morning." He yawned and tightened his arms around her as if he wanted her closer still. She just let him, snuggling closer herself. This was new to her. A relationship, lying together like this, it was all new. And she found that she liked it a lot. "Been awake long?" he asked.

"A while."

"Wanna get up?" he asked her, sleep having left his body.

"Not really. I'm comfortable," she told him honestly.

"Are we now?" He grabbed her and rolled them both over so they were on their sides. She was lying between him and the back of the couch, chest to chest, legs intertwined. He gave her a kiss on her forehead. "Still comfortable?"

"Very much so." Their voices were soft, not wanting to wake the others, not wanting to break the small bubble around them.

"I could get used to this," he let her know eventually. She hummed in affirmation.

"You know how I said that I should call you Snuffles more?" she asked him. He just looked at her, wondering where she was going with this. "I think I've found the perfect moment to do so. When we wake up and we're all cuddly. Snuffles is a perfect name to go with those kind of situations." It was meant a joke, a smile gracing her lips.

A smile broke out on his face and he had to actively try to push down the laugh that was trying to get passed his lips. "You know, I don't really mind that at all," he said amused. "Is it because I look so sweet and innocent?"

He looked at her with that look, teasing, mischief in his eyes. What was he getting at? "Sweet and innocent?"

"Come on, Mione," he coaxed her. "Remember when you told Lily we looked sweet and innocent?" He waited for her to catch on and when he saw that she finally got it he had to supress a smirk.

"You were awake when we were talking last year that morning after the game."

"I was. And I was immensely happy to find out that you thought of us that way, that you thought of me that way."

"Why am I even surprised anymore? You're a marauder after all."

"I am." A small pause settled between them. They just lay there, cuddled up to each other. "Mione, tell me again."

She looked him in the eyes, grey meeting brown. "I love you."

"I love you too." A kiss, nothing more than a peck, followed the statement. A statement of only four words but that held so very much. It would take some time, he thought, before he got used to this. Better yet, he hoped he didn't get used to it. It was one of the best things he had ever felt and he would like to enjoy it for as long as he could.

But the slow and peaceful morning in their small, cosy bubble was only of limited time. The others started waking up and they had classes to attend. It was one of the first times ever that Hermione didn't look forward to it all, wanting to stay where she was.

In his arms it was calm, warm and cosy. No thoughts flashing through her mind, no worries pushing down on her shoulders. No thoughts of the future nor the past. Just the here and now, everything calm and peaceful.

Unfortunately, she couldn't stay in his arms. Time didn't just stop. So classes were attended, pranks were pulled and appointments with Dumbledore were made. Back to extracting memories. Back to giving information. Back to the tiredness in her limbs. Back to lying to her friends when they noticed she looked tired. How she wished this could all be over and done with, that everything was sorted out and solved already. But she knew it didn't work like that. She knew it took time, that she shouldn't get impatient because that's when mistakes are made. She knew. She knew it all. At least her rational side did. Her mind did. Her heart didn't understand so much. That's where the longing came from for it all to be over.

She pushed that feeling aside, tried to push it so far back in a box that she almost succeeded. At least she didn't always think about it, didn't always notice it was there. Hermione couldn't do much else, couldn't expect anything else. The feeling was there and it would remain so until everything was over. Until Voldemort was defeated and her friends were safe.

She just came back from another memory-extraction session and it had been rough. It had been tougher than when she had given the headmaster her memory about Cedric dying. Now what could be worse? Simple: Sirius' death. It had been so bad when she saw it happen but with the way she knew him now it was all that much more horrifying.

The way Bellatrix fired that curse. How Sirius didn't have any time to react. It played from start to finish behind her eyes. The green light hitting him and then just a moment, one small terrifying moment. It seemed like everyone was holding their breath, no one daring to move. Like time itself had stopped. Then she saw him stumble back slightly and slowly the light left his eyes and that strange veil just swallowed him up. Gone. He was just gone.

She went to the room of requirement, needing to get herself back together. She didn't stay there long, not wanting to give Sirius another reason to start asking questions again. She just went there to pull herself together before joining the others in the common room.

When the brunette entered the common room she just walked towards her friends and took a seat beside her boyfriend, head on his shoulder.

"I'm telling you, if we want to beat Slytherin in the final match we have to do this."

"Prongs, I wanna beat them as much as you do, maybe even more, but so many hours on the pitch is killing us." Apparently they were discussing quidditch. Not that Hermione was paying attention, just sitting there. She wasn't exactly thinking but her mind wasn't blank either. It felt like her mind was stuck in some sort of limbo, not knowing which thought came next, not knowing which memory would flash before her eyes. The memory of Sirius dying still at the front of her mind.

She snuggled a little closer, burying her head in his neck. His arm came up around her, holding her. The brunette closed her eyes and took a deep breath, reminding herself that he was still here. She could see him, hear him, touch him. He was here. He was okay.

Sirius pecked her on the head and she opened her eyes. He was looking at her, his eyes holding so much love, adoration but also concern. So much emotions, she didn't know where to start with dissecting it all. And though his eyes were as bright as ever he looked tired, the bags starting to form beneath his eyes prove enough.

"Tired?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "A little."

Hermione knew better but she also knew he would never admit it. "You spend too much time practicing. You should rest too you know. Rest is also important."

"Thanks love, but it's nothing I can't handle. I've spend many nights wide awake. And it'll be totally worth it when we win that cup."

"'When', huh?"

"Of course, there's no doubt we'll win."

"So confident."

"I'm always confident, you should know that by now Mione." She hummed. "Tired?" he asked her in return.

"A little," she parroted back. She snuggled back into his side, looping her arms around him, as if she wanted to make sure he didn't go anywhere. As if she would make sure he would stay.

"What's on your mind?" Sirius asked her. He was a little concerned. She wasn't as exhausted as when she had that accident in class but he could clearly see that she was tired. He was concerned and he knew for a fact that she knew he felt that way. Now if she only would talk to him. Tell him what was the matter.

Hermione shook her head. "Later," she told him.