Disclaimer: The HP Universe belongs to JKR (though it's on my Christmas list- bit I have doubts I'll get it.
If you don't like the live/death choice I made here, please read the AN at the end.
Everything was black, but it seemed blurry, too. She didn't know how long she had been in this fog and she was much too tired to be interested. She felt a stab of pain on her side, which didn't go away. Sometimes she would here voices speaking quietly, but she couldn't really place it all. Scraps of sentences rang though to her, but it wasn't comprehendible. Still, on several occasions the words calmed her down and brought some peace. Then she would drift of do something like sleep, still very different.
It was the fourth day, though she didn't know that, when things changed. For the first time the blurriness cleared a bit. She was awfully tired and her side still ached painfully, but even with closed eyes everything seemed sharper. She could feel her body again; a part of the numbness that had held her so profoundly had disappeared.
She tried opening an eye, but the light was too much and she closed it again. She tried remembering instead and vaguely memories started to return. A fight, yes, she must have been hit by something. That was when she saw the curse almost in front of her and felt herself running, desperately trying to save, yes it was Sirius. With him the rest came back and she remembered everything once again.
This time with more power she forced her eyes open. The brightness of the room was blinding and it took her the best part of several minutes to adjust to it. Only then did she notice a figure which had obviously fallen asleep in the armchair opposite her bed.
"Sirius?"
He looked up. Hermione saw shock and happiness mixing in his eyes. "You're awake", he stated. He smiled, but suddenly his face turned dark. "I'll go tell the others." He left immediately.
Okay, so he obviously still hadn't forgiven her- and she still couldn't blame him for it. She wondered how long she had been out, but was interrupted in her thoughts when the door opened and Madame Pomfrey enter. She smiled after examining Hermione. "Well, it's good to see you back. Does it hurt?"
The young woman nodded. "A bit."
The nurse continued her examination. "Well, you seem a lot better. I want you to rest for today, but if you feel up to it, you can stand up for dinner. And now take these potions please, they'll help you."
"So I'm okay?"
"Yes. The scars will stay, though of course they'll fade. But for the moment I believe you have some visitors. They all came into the room, worried about her. They talked for a while, until Ginny who had noted that someone hadn't come back spoke up. "I think we should go know, Hermione will need some rest."
Madame Pomfrey hadn't had any intention of throwing them out, but one look in the redheads eyes told her she'd better do it and she wasn't surprised when Ginny stayed back and asked Hermione: "Where is he?"
"I don't know. He left to tell the others."
"Did you talk?"
Hermione shook her head, she seemed close to tears.
"That git. I'd kill him, but I guess you don't want that. He'll be here in two minutes." She left the room, throwing her hair over her shoulder. When she entered his room she saw him sitting there, staring into space. He had the sense to look ashamed when he saw her.
She didn't look at him, instead casting a silencing charm on the door before turning around. "Sirius Black! What the bloody hell were you thinking? She just saved your life, she already saved it once, okay that technically the council but still. You spent the last days not leaving her bedside and now she'd awake you disappear. Do you have any idea what you're doing?"
Sirius made a mental note that Molly Weasley had no temper compared to her daughter and that he'd never cross the girl again. She continued shouting: "Both of you are so in love even Ron could notice. You've already forgiven her, because you know she made the right choice and if you don't get your courage up like a proper Gryffindor, go apologize for being a stupid, insufferable an idiotic get or I'm going to bat-bogey, imperius you and use Veritaserum.
You spent the last days completely at her side and everybody who looks you in the eye knows that it was more than guilt. And she threw herself in front of that spell for you, of course she loves you. You can't disappear just like that. So, get going."
He got up and made his way to the upper bedroom where Hermione was resting. Of course he didn't want to do this, but even before Ginny's speech he'd known it was the right thing. He'd missed her so much, as Mya, as Hermione. Maybe it was good he didn't have a choice. There was no doubt in his mind that Ginny would do what he had threatened, but perhaps that wasn't a bad thing.
He entered the room and saw Hermione lying there. She was still pale, but when she gave him a shy smile he felt she'd never looked more beautiful. He sat down in the armchair he had used for the last days.
"Listen; I'm not very good at this, but I wanted to apologize for what I did. It was idiotic and stupid and everything. You said you would leave, it was clear to me. I just didn't know what to do. I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"
She smiled. Happiness was in her face. "Of course. Believe me, it was a hard choice for me to make and I feel guilty for it."
He reached out and wiped a stolen tear from her face. "You are not guilty. Bellatrix killed me, Crouch sent me to prison and Riddle is behind it all. You aren't guilty. I also wanted to thank you", he continued. "For saving me. But you shouldn't have done, you could have died."
She didn't reply for several minutes, until she spoke in a quiet voice. "I wasn't planning on giving up on you again. It would have been worth it."
He shook his head. "No. But I guess I can't make you agree, what."
"No, you can't." She laughed.
They talked for a couple of minutes, but the conversation was awkward. Finally Sirius asked: "What now?"
She looked at him for several seconds. She knew immediately what he was talking about. She didn't mind that he was older, her teacher or Harry's godfather, but she was afraid that even though he had loved her as Mya, he only saw a little girl in her now. She knew what she wanted, but her fear to lose him completely was overwhelming. "I am not sure. What do you think?"
Sirius had no idea what do now. Furthermore he didn't really want to feel this intense again. He knew she'd disappeared for a good reason, but losing her had been awful and heart-breaking, something he didn't want to go through again. Though, maybe it was worth the risk he thought when he remembered just how happy he'd been with Mya.
Neither of them would later be able to retell how exactly it happened, but before they knew it their lips met in a kiss full of passion, promises and love. Perhaps it was the fact that they both made the split-of-the-moment decision to risk everything, or maybe they'd seen their felling in the others eyes.
Sirius broke the kiss some time later; neither knew how much time had passed. He was still full of doubts. "No, I'm sorry, Hermione. This shouldn't be, I'm too old for you, you deserve someone better."
He got up but her voice stopped him. "I don't care. Shouldn't this be my decision? Besides we're at war- either of us could die tomorrow. It doesn't matter how old we are. Please Sirius, I don't want to lose you again."
"I'm your teacher."
"We'll keep it secret. You're only going to be my teacher for a year."
"You haven't changed one bit." He grinned. "I never could win an argument against you."
"So- you admit your defeat?" She smirked.
"Yes Ma'am." He saluted her playfully.
"Good. Then get down here and kiss me before everybody will come back."
He bent down to her, kissing her again. For both of them, it was the return of happiness and love they could remember so well.
AN: This chapter is very short- I'm sorry. I tried to make it a bit longer, but I didn't want to put too much into it. I'm not very fond of this chapter and rewrote it a couple of times, but it never worked, so I decided just to post it. Now please click that little blue button and review. It really helps me a lot to read what you think.
With that a gigantic thank you to my reviewers: amrawo, Slytherin-Lycan, pstibbons, googlibear, SiRiUsLyInLuV71, Nymphie07, daytimedrama. Thank youuuuuuuuuuu!
To the choice I made to let Hermione live: I know its cliché, but I never even thought of this as a really threatening situation. The story is supposed to go on much longer. Still, when pstibbons brought idea I really liked and seriously started considering. Well, I've made my decision to continue this story as planned, but if you want to have Hermione dead, review me. If I get several reviews asking for that, I'll write an alternate ending (it's going to be short though, two or three chapters).