As soon as they arrived to the Great Hall and had passed the yearly ritual of the sorting hat and the speech of Dumbledore all dug into their food as they commented animatedly on the vacations and trips they've done. Hermione looked over at the teacher's table only to find Sirius looking over at her spot and winking at her. She turned brightly pink over her cheeks and she hoped nobody noticed while she wondered why her heart skipped a beat every time she saw that man. At that right moment Dumbledore stood up once more to announce the incorporation of Sirius Black to the staff as the new head of Gryffindor and that professor McGonagall will only attend to her duties as teacher this year.

Most of the Gryffindor table roared of glee while the pther tables just clapped their hands politely, some girls swooning over the fact they would finally have a good looking "teacher" around the castle. The Slytherin table obviously didn't even bother to show any sign of welcome at all towards Mr. Black.

They were told to rest in till next day when the classes would start and that they could at least try to obtain their schedules before tomorrow, especially those from Gryffindor as their new head of house could then get to more or less recognize some students easier.

After lunch Hermione headed straight to Sirius' office to ask for her schedule. As she arrived she saw a line of students waiting outside, mainly girls of course. The door opened and out came Ron with his schedule.

"Hi 'Mione, have you seen Lavender around?" he asked his friend who stood patiently waiting for her turn in the line.

"No i'm sorry, maybe you could check the grounds around the lake, most students are out as it's such a nice day today" she answered with a smile.

After five students it was already her turn, her stomach started to fill with butterflies which she didn't really needed that time.

"Hi, professor Black" she greeted politely as she shut the door behind herself.

"Hi, miss Granger" said Sirius with a huge grin " I knew you were obviously coming today, so here's your schedule" he continued taking one that wasn't on the pile he had on his desk but on the side, laying there lonely with her name scribbled on it in Dumbledore's writing.

She smiled and took the schedule ready to leave his office when he told her that she had class with "Moony" next day at first period. He just grinned as she turned lightly pink.

"And by the way, please call me Sirius when we're in private 'Mione" he said with a wink before sending her off.

She couldn't properly understand what had just happened in there. He had called her by her nickname like during the whole summer they've spent at his house eve though he knew he was supposed to call her by her surname and to top it all off he had asked her to call him Sirius in private. In private! As if there would be any moments "alone" with him... He knew about her attraction towards him, damn, he knew about all the females attraction towards him.

Then she remembered she had professor Lupin's class first thing tomorrow after breakfast which made her blush on her way to the common room.

She spent the rest of the day reading a book, or better said a few ones from this year, either in the common room or in the library until it was time to go to sleep. She slept like a baby that night.

After breakfast she headed straight to Defense against Dark Arts with professor Lupin hoping she wouldn't be the first and only one in there. As she had a hunch in the back of her spine she realized that she indeed was alone with professor Lupin. She sat in her usual place at the front trying to do as if she read avidly from the book.

"Come on 'Mione you're not fooling me. I don't think you find that book so interesting after reading it this summer" he pointed out to her with a small smile.

"Oh well , I, I thought I could use a little refreshing before the class started" she blurted out perfectly knowing he would notice the lie in it accompanied with a clear avoidance of his amber eyes.

Remus just chuckled "I'm sure you don't need any refreshing either as you might have read some chapters yesterday in the library,dear". With that he stood up and walked towards the back of the class to set up the slide machine with each correct transparency according to his speech for the class.

"Oh, please come in, come in the class is about to start" he said to a few students waiting outside the open door as he motioned with the hand for them to step inside the classroom.

As the class went on Hermione picked up fast enough what professor Lupin talked about and recognized what she had read during the summer, so she just stared at the transparencies before her and nodded when she knew for sure that the fact is right. Suddenly she heard professor Lupin's voice.

"Miss Granger, how rare of you not to raise your hand to answer my question" Lupin said.

" I hmmm, I was looking at the transparency, sir" she said blushing furiously at he fact that all heads were turned towards her and that she hadn't even heard the question itself but only Remus's silky voice preaching to the class. Lupin just chuckled and proceeded to ask another student who didn't answer right but close enough and he explained what he had just asked.

As Hermione exited the classroom she felt someone nudge her, it was Harry. He was looking appalled by the answer she had given professor Lupin before.

"How come you didn't raise your hand as fast as lightning 'Mione? Are you feeling ill?" he asked her, suspecting something was wrong and she wasn't concentrating in class because of it. Concern clearly showing in his face.

"No, it's just my stomach, it feels a little weird sometimes" she answered, not knowing exactly if he would believe her. Harry just grabbed her by the arm to the Hospital Wing. As they entered he shouted for Madame Pomfrey.

"What's wrong Mr. Potter" she asked as she hurried over to them. Noticing as none of them were bleeding or broken her face clearly got rid of worry.

"I just wondered what's wrong with Hermione. She says her stomach feels weird sometimes" he stated with a worried look on his face.

"Oh well, let me just do some tests and we'll see what's going on" she said and grabbed Hermione by the arm and directing her to another part of the wing as she shooed Harry away by telling him he would know firsthand if there's something wrong with Miss Granger.

After fifteen minutes all possible tests were ready and confirmed nothing wrong with Hermione. As Madame Pomfrey accompanied Hermione to a worried Harry sitting patiently on a chair with Ginny beside him.

"There's nothing wrong with her stomach and by what she has told me I clearly believe she's in love" stated Madame Pomfrey amused before trailing off and leaving the three teens alone.

"In love?" Harry uttered in surprise.

"Who? Wait and I think I know" Ginny said with a small smile across her freckled face.

"I'm not sure" said Hermione before bursting out the door towards the Great Hall for lunch.

The rest of the day went on quietly, Hermione trying to ignore Harry's questioning looks and Ginny's small smiles of amusement as she hadn't told his boyfriend about her theories. She went to bed exhausted after doing her homework and avoiding all human contact with her so called friends including Ron who didn't know a thing about what had happened that day.