Hello guys! I'm sorry for the wait, I wish I could have updated while on vacation but I had no computer access. I did enjoy myself very much and I hope this chapter makes everyone happy ! Once again thank you for the reviews and remember to keep em up!

To Love a Marauder

The next morning, Hermione made an effort to get up extra early in order to spend ample time getting ready in hopes that Sirius might find her a bit more easy on the eyes.

Almost immediately after turning off her blaring alarm, Hermione sprang out of bed and dashed to the bathroom holding a pile of clothing under her arm.

Jumping into the shower; Hermione scrubbed her body vigorously and lathered her hair repeatedly with vanilla scented shampoo. She didn't bother to take a moment to enjoy the feeling of the warm water against her skin. Instead, she leapt of the cascading liquid waterfall the second her hair was free of soap and began drying herself frantically.

After putting on her undergarments, Hermione pulled on a pair of dark washed denim jeans that fit snugly on her legs, making them look longer even though she herself was very short. For her blouse, she opted for a simple form fitting white short sleeve shirt that she prayed accentuated the small curves she had.

With dressing out of the way, she found herself staring into the dusty mirror of the bathroom, debating what to do with her hair. The first thing she knew she must do, is to dry it; and with a wave of her wand, the wet strands turned into fizzy chunks.

"This is very woodland creature-esque," Hermione mumbled, twirling a lock of hair around a finger. Thinking hard, she performed another spell on her hair while closing her eyes tightly, afraid to see the result. A millisecond later, she peeped open an eye to see her handiwork. Hermione had covered her mouth to keep from gasping when she saw the wonders the spell had down. Her brown puffy mane now lay significantly flatter and sleeker in gentle waves, a vast improvement from her aforementioned style. She couldn't stop to smile at her accomplishment because she had a lot more work to do.

'These dark circles just won't do. I guess I'll have to fix those too. Just tack it onto the ever growing list of imperfections…'

Hermione frowned at her reflection once again in the mirror. Prodding underneath her honey eyes, she muttered a few words and watched as the bags disappeared.

"Much better," she said out loud, observing how alert and refreshed she looked after performing the simple alteration to her appearance. It was the final tweak she planned on making this morning. Already; Hermione had performed a blushing spell, that made her pale cheeks flush with a subtle peach color, an eye defining charm, that made her brown eyes pop even more with a light application of eye makeup, and finally a chest enhancing charm, that well…you can figure out what that one did.

'I don't look so bad, those Glamour Charms really did help out!..….Oh who am I kidding? An experienced, handsome playboy like Sirius won't ever look at me the way I'd I wish he would; he's just always going to think of me as the little girl riding Buckbeak. Why do I even bother?'

Sighing, Hermione looked at herself once more, feeling a deep weight in the pit of her stomach. She knew for a fact that she was a Plain-Jane; nothing special or out of the ordinary. It truly had been a miracle that Krum had sought her out from the hundreds of females in the school, but Hermione didn't think too much of it. To her, she would always consider herself to be an ugly duckling.

"Here goes nothing," she muttered, drawing her eyes away from her reflection and casting them downward. She was truly disappointed in herself for making the menial physical changes. Hermione wanted Sirius to find her attractive, but she didn't really want to have to resort to giving him a fake portrayal of herself.

'What if he just ends up liking what's on the outside, and not the inside? That would be terrible, considering the outside of me as of right now, is just a result of a few Glamour Charms, it isn't even really what I look like. God, why is enticing the opposite sex so damn hard?'

Hermione put her hands in her hair and pulled gently, groaning loudly in frustration. She quickly removed her hands when she realized she had probably destroyed the hairstyle she'd work so hard on. Glancing at herself, she noticed only a few hairs went astray. Giving her head a final pat, she grabbed the door handle with a deep breath. Sirius was surely downstairs consuming breakfast at this moment, and Hermione knew that it was the perfect opportunity to see if he would notice her dolled up appearance.

"Fuck, what am I supposed to do?" Sirius growled, pacing back and forth in his bedroom. His face was thoroughly flush, considering he had encircled the room at least three hundred times already.

'How the hell am I suppose to face Hermione after what happened last night? What, am I supposed to just casually walk up to her and say 'Hey, thanks for rejecting me, how about we give it another go?' Shit, I've really gotten myself into a mess this time.

I completely blew it.

If I wouldn't have been so damn impatient about kissing her, then none of this would have happened. Maybe she would have gained my trust if I would have held off and then she may have kissed me voluntarily!

Merlin's beard!

Why am I even thinking about this? I cannot under any circumstances pursue her, she's a child!

No. No she is not a child. I can't lie to myself about that. She is a young woman in more ways than one and I must give her respect for that.'

The long haired man slammed his fist into the wall in front of him; anger boiling in his veins. He was so preoccupied with facing Hermione, he had completely dismissed the fact that even if she ever did reciprocate his attraction, he could never act on it. Everything he felt was purely wishful thinking.

But even so, he still felt nervous about facing her this morning. He was already fairly late to breakfast, surely Hermione had been downstairs for awhile already and probably thanking the gods he hadn't showed up. Sirius however knew that he would have no choice but to face her at one point during the day. It was inevitable, especially since Molly had such a knack of pairing them together for cleaning, which was on the day's agenda.

"God damn you, Kreacher! If only you had taken care of this bloody house, then we wouldn't have to be cleaning it from top to bottom. I wouldn't have to see her!" Sirius ranted to his empty bedroom, kicking an empty can on the floor aside.

'Show your face Kreacher, I dare you. I'll tear you to pieces and mount your head on that damn wall!'

In his fit of rage, Sirius practically ripped the black shirt he had grabbed from a pile of clothes on the floor. He jerked it on furiously; his hair almost getting caught in the collar. Padfoot stood unmoving in the center of the room for a moment, trying to compose himself. A chiming bell sounded, alerting him that breakfast was almost over.

"I think I've lost my appetite," he grumbled, shuffling over to his bed. He collapsed onto its edge and put his head in his hands, savoring the last few minutes of solitude he would have until he was fetched to go downstairs and help.

Closing his eyes, he regretfully saw the image in his head of himself and Hermione pressed close together as he inched toward her, both of their breaths ragged. He felt a pang as he watched her pull away, leaving him stunned and ashamed. The image faded away and Sirius picked his head up from his hands and shook it sadly.

'I was so bloody close…'

The kitchen, as usual, was bustling with movement and buzzing with the sonorous sound of early morning chit chat. Around Hermione, the conversation was flowing steadily between the Weasley boys and Ginny. They exchanged playful jibes amongst each other while carrying on a discussion about one of the twins' new invention. Hermione, however, remained quiet as she stole quick glances at the doorway.

'Where is he? He's usually the first one down here aside from Mrs. Weasley. Oh I do hope he's alright. I didn't do all those charms for nothing! He must have a good reason for being so unpunctual…

Is it possible he's scared to face me after what happened last night? Maybe he sees my withdrawal from him as a sign of rejection? Lord, if he only knew it was the complete opposite! '

"I do wonder where Sirius has gotten off to….it's not like him to miss breakfast," Molly Weasley pondered as she washed a load of dishes at the sink. At the sound of the man's name, Hermione popped up with interest.

"Maybe he isn't feeling well," Ginny piped up, exiting the conversation about 'Cackling Coke Cans.'

"Or he's going on an anti-cleaning strike!" Fred said hopefully. Molly turned from the sink to face her son with a frown.

"Fred. I really doubt he's gone on a cleaning strike, for goodness sakes, it's his house that's being cleaned!" she said exasperatedly. The red headed boy considered the statement and nodded his head in agreement.

"Guess you're right. Mum. If I was him, I'd sure as hell want this dump clean and not covered in a layer of soot," he considered as he took a healthy swig of pumpkin juice.

"Fred Weasley! Where are your manners?" she scolded, enforcing her distaste with him by snatching away his half finished plate of food.

"Mum, I wasn't done with that, I'm still hungry!" he whined, looking longingly at the plate. She shrugged her shoulders and proceeded to toss the contents of the plate into the waste bin.

"You should have thought of that before you went off insulting poor Sirius' home," Molly told him, even though she secretly agreed with Freds' description of the house. Fred crossed his arms while playing an annoyed scowl on his features

"However, I do think that Ginny's concern may have some credibility to it. I'd like one of you to go upstairs and check on him," she requested to the children. Hermione felt her heart rate speed up considerably as she realized the opportunity to begin wooing Sirius had arisen.

'If I go upstairs to check on him, he would surely get a good look at me. He'd have no choice in avoiding me then. Plus we'd be alone…'

"I'll go," Hermione volunteered in what she thought was a casual tone. Molly smiled gratefully at her and nodded.

"Thank you, Hermione," the flame haired woman said, putting the final clean dishes into the sink.

"I'll come for you if something is wrong," the brown haired girl called out as she headed for the exit of the kitchen. She didn't bother straining to hear Molly's reply; instead she sped up her pace in the hallway until she reached the staircase. Once there, she took each step carefully and slowly, feeling the weight of anxiousness beginning to form within her newly enlarged chest.

"Everything is going to be fine, Hermione. He's going to act completely normal…nothing will be awkward," she told her self in a low whisper. Her uneven breathing slowed as she reached the landing and headed toward Sirius' room.

"Let's hope he really isn't sick," she mumbled while reaching his door and raising a hand to knock. She hesitated momentarily, her hand frozen in midair.

'Is this what I really want? Is he worth breaking the rules for?'

She thought hard about the questions she had raised to herself. Hermione felt torn between what was 'right' and what was 'wrong'. The two words could have many meanings:

What was right, for instance, could be ignoring these silly feelings for the man in question and going on with her life without another twinge of affection for him.

What was wrong might be pursuing these feelings in hope of a relationship with the older man that was the godfather of her best friend.

'But right and wrong could mean something else, couldn't it?'

The right thing to do could very well be acting upon her attraction to the male, paying no heed to the baggage that would come along with him. Being with Sirius could truly be something magical and could simply feel right.

However, doing the wrong thing in this perspective, would be disregarding the emotions toward the man, and leaving herself and him loveless and lonely for a possible extended amount of time.

What was it then, that she wanted?

Breathing deeply, Hermione suprised even herself as she easily came to a decision. Her already raised hand came down onto the wooden door and rapped lightly.

Sirius was right.

For quite some time now, Sirius had remained seated on the edge of his bed in a sullen daze. The idea of going down to breakfast had came and gone, leaving him alone to his thoughts. It had been blissfully silent for the duration of his sulking, until the faint knocking at his door pounded in his ears.

'I knew the Weasley would send someone after me. I just hoped it would have been a few hours from now.'

Sirius grunted and stood up from the bed; it was time to face the music, or better phrased 'one of the plentiful Weasley's.'

"Come in!" Sirius called out in a horse voice. The wooden door creaked open ever so slowly, first revealing a mane of brown hair.

"Hermione," he said in quiet disbelief before she had fully revealed herself in the doorway. He had assumed a Weasley would come fetch her, but the thought of the young woman who plagued his mind coming to get him never once seemed like a possibility.

WIth a final creak, the heavy door had finally opened completely and Hermione was exposed as she stood in the doorframe. Sirius zoned in on her and met her eyes quickly before darting them away. In his cursory glance, he had noticed something peculiar about her appearance. He couldn't put his finger on it just yet. Disregarding the lump in his throat, Sirius swallowed and redirected his gaze in her direction. His barely kept his eyes from widening in surprise as he meticulously took in Hermione's appearance.

Her usually unruly hair was now resting in behaved sleek waves that fell below her shoulders. Sirius felt an instant rush of excitement as he remembered how lovely her hair had felt between his fingers the night before and he longed to touch it again. His eyes moved down her face and found her eyes staring back at him with anxiousness. He noticed the brown orbs seemed to be lightly lined in black, making them stand out even more.

Hermione's bright eyes truly made her face glow, but so did something else. Sirius could see what looked like a slight blush on her cheeks, but as he squinted he could see what turned out to be a peachy trace of color.

'She looks so beautiful…but why had she gone through all of the trouble? Hermione doesn't need her striking features to be played up, she is perfect the way she is. It's not only her face and full hair, but it's her body too. Her slim waist, small build, rounded breasts…wait what happened there?'

At the thought of her breasts, Sirius' eyes had absent mindedly found themselves lingering on her chest to find that her assets had been substantially upgraded. Hermione had obviously realized where his gaze had landed and a real blush burned furiously on her cheeks.

Sirius found it hard not to scowl at the girl for doing such a silly thing to her body.

'She enlarged her breasts? Bloody hell, why would she do such a ridiculous thing? Her chest was absolutely fine before, filled out and natural. Good gods, something must be seriously wrong if she felt the need to make such a dramatic change.'

Sirius, seeing all he needed to see, finally pried his eyes off of Hermione and scratched his head. His confusion was obvious, as well as his growing interest in the matter.

However, little did the man know; he was what was 'Sirius-ly' wrong.

Hermione could feel her face burning with heated embarrassment. She wasn't unnerved as Sirius curiously examined her hair and face, as he seemed to appraise her by the faint glimmer in his eyes.

It was only when he moved his gaze lower to her chest that she felt obviously self conscious and insecure about her alteration. Hermione knew he would probably discover her larger chest, but she had no idea he would outright stare at her when he was aware she was watching him.

However, being the object of his perusal wasn't at all a complaint on her behalf. She had been silently enjoying his study of her until she saw a spark of anger in his eyes. The way he considered her breasts wasn't with delight or interest, it was with disgust and contempt.

Fighting the urge to cry, Hermione bit her lip hard and stared up at the deteriorating ceiling above, forgetting that Sirius was still stand before her.

'How could I ever think he would find me attractive? It was a stupid, stupid idea to perform those blasted charms! I did everything I could to make myself look more appealing, but what happened? He hated it! I guess Sirius will never find me attractive no matter what I do….and to think I thought he was 'right'!'

"Hermione, don't," Sirius voice was soothing and gentle as he reached out to touch the girl lightly on the arm. Hermione abruptly became aware of the large droplets of water running down her face as she tilted her head back down.

"I'm fine, just leave it!" Hermione meekly swatted Sirius hand away, sniffling loudly as she wiped her tears away with the hand. He backed up in defeat, but did not cease to comfort her.

"What's wrong Hermione? You can tell me," Sirius coaxed her as he sat back down onto the edge of the bed. She shook her head and turned around to leave. He watched her sadly walk toward the door and he felt a wrenching pain in his chest. Sirius knew what he had to say to her, but that didn't make it any less hard to get the words out.

"I….I … I think you're beautiful, Hermione," the man staggered out as his breath caught in his throat. The girl stopped walking toward the door and turned back around slowly, keeping her eyes on the ground.

"Only looking like this," she whispered, gesturing her hand toward her face, pointing out her modifications. Sirius didn't miss a beat as he rose from the bed and walked up to her, grabbing the hand she was using to show her adjustments. He held it between his two smooth hands as he looked down at the girl.

"No, not looking like this. You are beautiful when you are yourself, Hermione. You shouldn't ever second guess what god has given to you. He has bestowed you with the most radiant eyes, and shining smile. He's made you perfect in every way….inside and out," Sirius told her quietly, putting her hand in his palms on top of her heart. Hermione tilted her face upwards to look at the man who was saying these sweet, sweet words to her.

"Thank you…thank you, Sirius," she replied in a whisper that died on her lips as Sirius began to close the gap between them. Her heart pounded in her ears as he came nearer, and she swore she could hear the thumping in his chest too.

'This time he will receive the kiss he so honorably peruses. This time I will not push him away because now I know…

He thinks I'm beautiful the way I am.'

And at her last thought, the space that kept their two faces apart was gone as Sirius pressed his soft lips gently to hers. He let his hand find its way into her hair as she slid her hand around the back of his neck to pull him closer, never wanting him to leave. His lips caressed hers as she reciprocated his movements, responding with the tenderness that filled her heart. She brought her other hand up to Sirius' face as she stroke the light stubble on his cheek with it. Hermione felt his smile form onto her lips. Sirius decided he could become forever lost in her lips, but he knew the kiss had to end. Things needed to be be said between them, and secrets they both kept to themselves had to be exchanged

With a regretful sigh, he removed his lips from hers with a final chaste kiss as he pulled away, his eyes never leaving hers. Hermione was still bathing in the afterglow of the kiss as she smiled dreamily at the handsome wizard in front of her.

"We need to talk, Hermione."