Disclaimer: Ok, I'm getting bored by this stuff; I mean its kind of obvious that I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if I could earn money, but what the hell. I herby announce that everything you recognise probably belongs to JKR. Now enjoy your read, I hope you like the chapter and am sorry for taking so long to update.
Two days later the trip to Diagon Alley was planned. Though most where glad to come out of the house, for some people the mood wasn't too good. Sirius desperately tried to avoid Remus's gaze of disappointment, Ginny's angry glares and, worst of all, Hermione's red-rimmed eyes full of guilt and love. He knew she didn't blame him and that just made it even worse.
Ginny and Remus had immediately seen that something was going on when Hermione came down to breakfast that morning. Ginny had already been suspicious that her friend had returned so late that night, but she hadn't thought about it much. Nevertheless, in the morning one gaze had at her told them that her talk with Sirius had probably gone very, very wrong.
They'd cornered her after breakfast and after she told them what had happened Remus had needed all the convincing-power he'd gathered in years of preventing James and Sirius from too crazy pranks to avoid having Ginny break down Sirius's door, bat-bogey him and then imperius him to apologize to Hermione.
Though Remus thought that nothing was too wrong with the redheads idea, he doubted it would help anyone much. And to a part, he could understand Sirius. After all, who'd not go utterly and completely crazy after the girl you loved for twenty years announced she'd left you, knew you'd die and now suddenly was back.
Of course, Hermione had taken a bit of a wrong start on the whole thing. Not that anybody could blame her, but her own guilt overruled the matter so much she couldn't really tell the story from a point of view that didn't fault her.
Still, things hadn't reconciled between Sirius and Hermione yet and Remus was starting to get worried. Hermione had been pale and eaten almost nothing, while Sirius had shut himself into his room most of the time. Ginny's idea of imperius seemed to be become better with every passing day, especially since the others were starting to notice the odd behaviour.
Remus had spoken with Sirius and convinced him to hear Hermione out at the very least. Still, nothing of the sort had happened yet.
So, all in all, today had taken an extremely bad start. Now, they were all one their way to Diagon Alley, where they were going by portkey for security reasons. It was quite tight around the small coup with all the Weasley's except Percy (Bill and Charlie were coming as Order guards), Harry, Hermione, Remus, Tonks, Sirius, Moody and Fleur. The last five were also coming as Order members, which meant that Sirius's try not to participate in the trip failed utterly.
The morning was nothing out of the ordinary, which included a fit from Ginny when Mrs Weasley wanted to buy her pink robes for the ball (the shouting match ended with Mrs Weasley leaving and Ginny doing what she wished, furthermore refusing to show anybody what she had bought.)
The Weasleys were now quite well equipped after Mr Weasley had been promoted and they had been on the receiving end on several million galleons from Sirius's will which they of course tried to give back after his return. Sirius blankly refused and pointed out that a forefather of Arthur's had once been disowned by the Black family. He used the same argument for Remus and Tonks, since Tonks' mother had also been a Black before her marriage.
The majority of his money would be returned to him anyway, because he had given it to Harry who'd made clear that he had more than enough. After Sirius's death the young man had found out about the Potter vault, which held on of the largest fortunes known, much more than the Malfoy or the Black possession. (AN: I know that giving Harry all this money is very cliché, but he deserves some good things, don't you think?) The Potters had invested into the muggle world, opposed to all other pure-blood families and there investions were definitely paying off.
Sirius was walking in the back of the group and could stare at Hermione without anyone noticing. She was beautiful. Her hair, once bushy, now descended down her back in soft, wavy curls. He should really talk with her, he knew it. Remus was right about that, eh hadn't even let her finish her story.
Still, it was hard to forget everything that happened and he was simply unsure what to do. He couldn't really blame her for her choice, of course. He wouldn't feel well knowing that hundreds of people would be killed by Voldermort, but it still wasn't easy to accept. Furthermore, he didn't know if he could love Hermione like he had loved Mya. They were the same, but he had changed over the years.
He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard a voice behind him yell. "Attack." He spun around immediately and saw a group of thirty or so Death Eaters standing in front of him. He ducked the first curse on instinct and fired a stunner at the caster. By now, the others had also turned and, out of the corner of his eyes he was astounded to see the children, no, they weren't kids anymore, fire some of the most advanced curses he'd ever seen.
When a woman started throwing curses at him, he quickly drew up a shield, before recognising his cousin once again. The battle raged on, and while most of the Death Eaters were taken down in a reasonable amount of time, Sirius and Bellatrix were still fighting. He had to lower his protection for a moment to throw another curse at her and she used it, firing at him with a yell of Sectumsempra and a long, sharp jab of her wand.
Hermione watched in slow motion as a jet of blinding light flew towards the love of her life. It would hit him square in the chest. She saw that he wouldn't have the time to draw up a shield strong enough in such a short time. This couldn't happen. She wouldn't lose him again. Not so shortly after he had returned to her.
It was a quick decision, made in the smallest part of a second, when she threw herself in front of the curse. There were no dramatic cries of "No", just a quick turning of her body to protect her love. It slashed her side open cutting her cheek, down her neck and all the way to her hip. The last thing she saw before she fainted was a pair of bright, grey eyes looking down at her, full of fear and love.
Sirius didn't remember much of the following hours. Somehow, they were all transported back to Grimmauld Place. He was carrying Hermione the whole time, only leaving her in the care of Madame Pomfrey when they arrived. He spent the next hours pacing in front of the close door where the nurse and several healers where working feverently.
"How is she?" The nurse was bombarded with the question as soon as she opened the door to the room where Hermione lay.
"She's still in danger. We did our best, but I don't know if it was enough. She lost a massive amount of blood and half her side was sliced open. Even if she heals, the scars will stay."
"Can we go and see her, Madame Pomfrey?" Harry asked the question and normally she wouldn't have allowed it, but she had the feeling that the girl desperately needed something to live for and if her friends couldn't provide it, who could?
"Yes, but be quiet." Without a sound Ginny, Ron, Harry and, last of them, Sirius entered the room. The others had gone down.
While Madame Pomfrey made her way down the stairs to inform them about her patient's well- or rather not-well-being, she saw the look in the eyes of Sirius Black. She already noticed it when he carried the girl, and now she was sure. Poppy Pomfrey had seen a lot in her life and she was certain he loved the girl who'd so readily given up her life for him.
Because of that, she didn't throw him out when she returned. In a silent understanding between the two women, Ginny ushered Ron and Harry out and left herself. "I'll be in the next room, Mr Black, please, inform me right away if something changes."
He silently nodded before she, too, went and left them alone. Sirius stayed all night at the side of the woman he loved so deeply, talking to her quietly and letting the tears run down his face. "Don't you dare leave me, Mya, Hermione, whatever. I don't even know what to call you. You're going to have to tell me when you wake up, because that's exactly what you're going to do. You hear me, stay, honey, you can't go now."
"I'm supposed to be angry at you, but after hearing that, it's kind of hard." Ginny stood in the doorway, smiling at the scene while crying. Her quiet steps almost weren't heard when she made her way to the bed and knelt down. "Come on, Mione, wake back up. We need you. Who will reprimand all of us? Who is going to explain what everybody feels to Ron? And what about SPEW? And we miss you, Mione. All of us, even the stupid git next to me who can't admit that he loves you. So open your eyes that the two of you can kiss and make up."
She smiled gently, stood up and looked at the man in front of her. He wasn't the shaggy prisoner on the run anymore, but today he seemed even worse of. "Mum will have breakfast ready soon and Madame Pomfrey will come over to check on Mione in a moment. If you don't want to come down, somebody will bring you breakfast up, but it eat. She won't want to wake up to hear that you starved yourself to death."
She looked down gently at the woman in front of her again, murmuring a quiet "Get well soon, we miss you", before going down the stairs to put on a brave face.
Sirius averted his gaze from the brunette for a moment and looked out of the window from where the sun was shining in. "Sometimes, I can't believe it always rises again. I just can't imagine light in this world if Voldermort won. Remember how you once told me about a muggle saying that the sun is very brave, because it goes up everyday to a world with so much badness. Don't let it need more bravery, Mione, come back to us. I don't want to lose you again."
Things stayed critical for the next three days. Madame Pomfrey couldn't do much against an evil curse fired with so much power and the only hope was that Hermione and her will to life would be strong enough for her to make it. Sirius rarely left her side, didn't sleep and only ate when Remus or Ginny made him. The others thought he felt guilty that she had taken the curse for him and since that was a large part of the truth, nobody who knew more felt bad about lying.
There was a desperate mood in the house; everybody was afraid for the young woman in the upper bedroom and maybe even worse for some was the fact that they could do nothing about her state. And so only hope remained while time passed by.
AN: Sorry about taking so long for AND leaving you guys with a cliffie. I hope you still find a moment to give me a quick (or longer) review, I'd be ever so glad and thankful.
And with that also a huge, gigantic thank you, gracias, danke, merci (I'm no good at languages, I hope I didn't make any mistakes) to those who reviewed: Slytherinlycan, amrawo, googlibear, pstibbons and nymphie07! Your reviews help me so much and keep me going. To all those not-reviewers who still want this story to be updated, you can thank them too, they are a main reason for me to keep updating!
So that's it, I hoped you liked the chapter and I'll do my best not to keep you waiting to long for the next chapter.