Disclaimer: Everything is the property of brilliant JKR. I don't one anything you recognise.

Harry's birthday and the following days passed quickly. With the help of Narcissa and Ginny, Hermione managed to spend some time with Sirius, but it was still difficult to hide their relationship. Somehow, it didn't matter too much though. The knowledge that he loved her was enough to keep her happy and since Narcissa had tricked her into telling him, she felt like a gigantic weight was lifted from her shoulders.

She smiled as she made her way down to the kitchen for breakfast. If they were lucky Narcissa would have some good news this morning. Mrs Weasley, Remus, Tonks, Sirius, Narcissa, Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Susan and Luna were all in the kitchen while the others had left for work.

Just when Hermione entered, an owl flew towards the window. Mrs Weasley stood up to open it. The owl passed her and flew towards Narcissa.

Everybody looked at the blonde in surprise, but she just shrugged her shoulders. "I have no idea."

She opened the letter, read through it and gasped. "Oh Merlin." She jumped up and hugged her cousin. "Thank you so much, Sirius. I can never make this up to you."

Quietly, so that the others wouldn't hear, he whispered. "You already did. It's just a small thank you." Meanwhile Ginny had picked up the letter, while the others were reading over her shoulder.

Dear Mr Malfoy, Dear Miss Black,

Herby the Department of Magical law Enforcement announces your immediate divorce due to the interference of Miss Black's head of house, who has annulled this marriage in accordance with his right as head of house.

Miss Black receives custody over all children of this marriage and the sum of gold she brought into the marriage, which is currently being transferred.

With greetings,

Hopkirk

Magical Law Enforcement

"Why did you do that, Sirius?" Mrs Weasley asked. "I mean you didn't know if Narcissa wanted the divorce."

"She'd already filed for it." He answered. "But then a little birdie told me that I could speed up the process."

Harry threw him a look. "Are we going to get out of you who that was?"

Sirius shook his head. It had been Hermione's idea when she'd remembered that he could divorce marriages as a head of house, but he wasn't about to tell Harry "Yeah, my brilliant girlfriend thought of it , because Narcissa helped us confess our love." Anyway, further discussion was prevented when Ginny gasped. "Narcissa, it says children here."

The blonde spun around, grabbing the letter from Ginny. "Oh shit. How the bloody hell did they know that?"

Draco stared at his mother. She never swore. "Are you meaning to tell me that I have siblings?"

Narcissa took several deep breaths before sitting down. "Okay, I guess I owe all of you an explanation. I'm sorry about no telling anyone, especially you, Draco, but it was too dangerous. I gave birth to a girl on October first, a year after you were born and the day after Lily and James died. Most people were out of course and so it happened that I was alone with a young mediwitch during labour.

She noticed I'd cried about the article announcing their death and somehow I ended up telling her my whole story. I explained to her how much I feared that my child would be married away or forced to become a Death Eater. Well, she offered to take it away. She was Muggle-born and she had a cousin in France who'd been trying to adopt a child for some time now.

It was a spur of the moment decision for both of us. I gave her my baby girl, she apparated away and I told Lucius that our daughter had died. As soon as I'd said it was a daughter, he wasn't interested anymore anyway. She's fifteen now, she'll be entering her sixth year at Beauxbatons, lives in a suburb of Paris and she's a good pupil. That's what the healer told me. We've met once a year and she told me everything she knew.

The others stared at her in shock. "What is her name?" Draco asked.

"Lily. Lily Mya." She stood up, walked towards the window so that no one would see her tears and turned around again. "For the two people who gave me hope and had faith in me."

Ginny broke the moment that had halted the room. She did it on purpose, because she knew that either Hermione or Narcissa would reveal something otherwise and because they had another problem. "Your husband probably got the same letter. And that means he knows, too."

The next minutes were a blur for Narcissa. She vaguely remembered her son forgiving her for not telling him. He was a spy; he understood what it meant to keep secrets. Then there was Remus informing Dumbeldore and after that Hermione came up next to her. "Calm down, Cissy. We're sure that the Death Eaters haven't been there yet. Lucius only knows that you have another child; it will take him some time to find out more. Besides, he'll be more concerned about the fact that you get so much money. And we don't know if he'll react at all. And now we're going to Paris."

"What?"

"We're going to Paris, you, me and Sirius. Sirius is best with the wards since Bill has to work and I started to train puting them up. We're setting up wards around the house, giving her and her family emergency portkeys and convincing them to send her to Hogwarts this year. She'll be safe there. Now, hold on." She handed the other woman a mirror. All of them felt the familiar pulling sensation as they landed in a small alleyway.

Hermione looked around, pulling out a map. It was a short walk, and then they stood across from the house. "That's it." She said. After casting disillusionment charms upon themselves, they started putting up several strong wards around the house. When they were finished, Narcissa looked at the other. "I want to do this alone."

"We can't just leave you here", Sirius protested.

"You can. I've got the emergency portkeys and you guys need some time alone. Have fun in Paris. I really need to do this by myself."

"Okay. When should we be back?" Hermione didn't sound too happy, but she knew her friend was right. And once Narcissa had set her mind on something, there was no sense in arguing.

"Let's say at two o'clock. Three hours should be enough time for all of us. Now, go to the Eiffel Tower, have a nice lunch and don't come back to early." Narcissa spun around, walking towards the house. Halfway there she turned around. "I'll find the way you now, you guys can go."

"Be careful, Cissy." Hermione said. "And good luck."

When Narcissa knocked, Sirius turned to his girlfriend. "Have you ever been to Paris?"

She shook her head. "We were in France, but not in Paris."

"Okay hold onto my arm then, I'm taking you by side-along apparition."

A moment later they disappeared to land in a small pub that reminded Hermione of the Leaky Cauldron. Sirius smiled at her. "Welcome to Paris. Now, where do you want to go? Muggle or Magical Paris?"

"Muggle Paris. I always wanted to see the Eiffel tower. But what about you?"

"I'd love to go there as well- we always only went to magical Paris when we came here with the family. Well, I snuck out once, but apart from that…"

They made their way through the streets of the beautiful city, until they reached the Eiffel Tower. "It would have been so much easier to apparate", Sirius complained when they'd finally reached the highest platform of the Tower after a lot of standing in line.

"Yes, but it might be kind of strange if she just appeared there. Besides, what if we accidentally landed in the wrong place."

"You'd conjure a broom and I'd fly us down."

"Great idea. And then we oblivate everybody here."

"Yes, that's exactly it."

She groaned. "That was sarcasm. Why do I put up with you?"

"You know you love me."

"I can't even protest, you know."

"I really admire the way you tell me you love me." He teased. "First you tell Narcissa, and then you say you can't deny it."

"You want me to tell you properly?" She turned so that she was facing him. "I love you." She spoke her words with such intensity that only in this moment it became clear to her just how true they were.

He bent down, breathing "I love you too", into her ear before he kissed her.

They stood there for a long time after they'd broken apart. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she said. "When you look down, you see the city, but if you look far enough you cans see the horizon."

"Yes. Sometimes, when I wanted to get away, I'd climb up onto the roof of Grimmauld Place when I was a child. It was just like here, the sun, the houses and the horizon almost not visible."

"Tell me about your childhood, Sirius, you never talk about it."

"You don't want to know, believe me."

"I do. It is a part of you, no matter how much you despise it."

He pulled her close, looked her once into her beautiful, brown eyes, before he let his gaze wonder over the city. They were silent for several moments. She didn't say anything; she knew he would talk when he was ready.

"Well, you met my mother's portrait. It's not too far from reality. She had a temper that would make Molly seem like nothing. The family was the most important thing to her, everything for her. She was evil in a way. She hated everybody who crossed her. She believed in all those prejudices, but she never really thought about them.

My father was a busy man. He showed no interest in the family, he let mother decide everything. He shut himself in his study, only coming out on seldom occasions.

Regulus was boring. The good son who did what was asked of him without enthusiasm, even when we were children. He'd do as mother wanted, every time. I mourned for him when he died, but not for a brother I could have loved, only for a boy who'd chosen the wrong path.

Until I went to school, life was boring. I played the good son as well as I could, because there wasn't anything else to do. When I was sorted into Gryffindor, mother sent a howler, Regulus stopped writing to me and father didn't do anything. Bella laughed. When I asked her why later on, she said she imagined the look on the families' faces and then she told me she was proud."

Sirius smiled when he saw Hermione's confused look. "She was different then. We were close, closer than I was with anyone else in my family. She had ambition and she mingled with dark magic, but she wasn't evil. Back then, we were both just rebels. She was three years older and she changed when I was fourteen.

It wasn't one of these slow changes; she was a different person after she met him." He spoke the last word with hate, she understood all too well. She hated Voldermort with the same passion, though he hadn't taken as much from her as from Sirius. Once, Hermione'd tried to deny these feelings of pure hate, but after some time she'd accepted it.

Sirius continued. "It was at some ball and she became entranced by him. She was going out with Rodolphus, but I doubt she ever felt anything for him. And then she fell for Riddle. She loved him instantly and she gave her life up for him.

That's something I can never for give Voldermort. He took so many I loved from me: you, James, Lily, in a way even Peter and Bellatrix. Without him, she might still have rebelled, the family wasn't pleased when she became a Death Eater, simply because she was a woman, but she wouldn't have become a murderer. She shoot a stunner at me. Maybe because of the old times. I couldn't have killed her, I know that much."

Discreetly Hermione wiped tears from her eyes. She was crying for the lost childhood of the man she loved and maybe just for a bit, for the lost life of a woman she despised.

And she cried because of her fears. "You know what I'm afraid of most?" She said. "I faer losing those I love. I know that not everybody will make it through this war. I can't bear of losing anybody to this war, it's just so useless."

He held her tight, while she was crying. Finally, she regained her composure. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to ruin this beautiful day."

He shook his head. "It's not your fault, love. It's fate during wars that we can never truly forget. Besides, we still have to an hour left and I wouldn't consider a day with you ruined." She smiled, the dark thoughts going to the back of her mind as they continued their visited in the city.

They returned to the house in the suburb at two o'clock. Hermione rang the doorbell, which was opened by a brunette woman with a round, friendly face. She smiled at them. "Hello, you must be the other visitors for Lily. That was quite a shock for us all this morning. I'm Ann Miller-Dupont, by the way. My husband is French, that's why we moved here. Now come on to the living room. Lily and Miss Black are there.

Hermione took an instant liking to the woman who reminded her a lot of Molly. They entered the living room, where they found Narcissa talking to a young girl with dark blonde hair who otherwise resembled her mother. Hermione smiled at the similarity. She was happy for Narcissa. She'd been through so much bad in her life, but at least she was free of Lucius now.

Narcissa looked up. "There you guys are. Sirius, Mione, meet Lily. Lily these are your future transfiguration professor Sirius Black and Hermione Granger, the head girl. Sirius is my cousin."

After Sirius and Hermione had sat down, Narcissa told them what she had discussed with her daughter. "Well, we agreed that Lily would attend Hogwarts this year. She'll be in sixth year. Her family will be protected by the wards and they'll have emergency portkeys."

They talked for several more minutes and Hermione was surprised how little problems Lily had with the fact that her mother suddenly appeared after all these years. Of course, she'd known she was adopted, but still…

They left around three and made their way back to Grimmauld.

"So, what's she like?" Draco asked during dinner.

"Very nice and clever. She is funny as well, you enjoy talking to her. She looks like your mother, but with darker hair. The family who adopted her are nice as well. She's fairly okay with what's happening, better than I'd suspected."

Hermione hesitated. She wasn't sure how to put the next part in words. "But she hasn't fought, you know. Not that I'd say that that makes her a less worthy person, but it's just a difference. The war didn't come to France. It was strange, speaking with someone who hasn't lost anything in this war. It's all so far away for her and I do feel bad that she going to be a part of this now. It's a kind of innocence you never get back. We can only hope that we'll be able to end all this soon."

AN: Well, I decided to post this chapter, though I'm not too happy. I hope you guys still review, please, please, please. It really helps me. A gigantic thank you to all my reviewers: amrawo, lalabella 321, pstibbons, googlibear!!!

Now, a little question to all my readers: do you want to have Lily in Hufflepuff or Gryffindor. I imagine her as a friendly and helpful girl who has something motherly around her. But she's also brave, so she'd fit in both houses and I can't decide. I'm sorry I have so little of her in this chapter, but there'll be more about her.

Now, click the blue button, give me a review and a happy new year to all of you!!!