In a second

A/N: Well, the exams are finally over! I got stuck in the middle of the chapter with a writer's block, so I hope that this is good. I'm having a lot of trouble when it comes to Harry and Hermione; it's hard for me to write them as friends and nothing more... (sigh). I really want to do some sort of 'Christmas special' in the next chapters, so... on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: Nope, not yet.

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Harry stared at her; he didn't look angry- just surprised. No one could blame him, really; since what had happened in the infirmary nearly three years ago, they had never again talked about Sirius. Hermione stared back, biting her lower lip.

"Um... Well- Why do you want to know?" Harry asked. Hermione shrugged.

"Just... Curious." Harry screwed his face up thoughtfully.

"Neville had been hit with the Tarantallegra," Harry began slowly, and Hermione widened her eyes, but didn't interrupt. "I was holding him... I had the Prophecy. Tonks fell down the stairs, yes... Then Dumbledore came." Hermione's mouth was suddenly very dry... "Well, he rounded up all the Death Eaters except for Bellatrix, who was duelling with Sirius."

She saw Harry trying to hold on to Neville and the wild dance his feet were making; she saw Tonks duelling with a Death Eater; she saw Lupin, and Dumbledore- Hermione stood up and spotted Sirius, and her heart leapt. He was fiercely duelling who looked to be... Bellatrix? Her face scared Hermione, who opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

"Sirius... He ducked the first Stupefy," Harry continued in a low voice, glaring at his cup of coffee as if he was seeing Bellatrix's face in it. Hermione tried to swallow and she stared at the sink, remembering the dream.

"But not the second one," she whispered without noticing.

Tears of horror filled Hermione's eyes as he ducked the first jet of red light; but he wasn't so lucky with the second one: it hit straight to his chest.

Harry sharply looked up at her, with a frown. "How could you have known that?" He demanded. Hermione blinked a couple of times and tried her best to feign innocence.

"Lucky guess?" She tried. Harry slightly narrowed his eyes at her. "Yeah..." he trailed off with suspicion. "Anyway... Well, you got it right. Straight to the chest," Harry continued, clearly beginning to feel uncomfortable with the memories. "You know... He was still smiling when he fell," he commented with a strange, detached voice. "His back had formed an arch... She was laughing... And... He fell." Harry's voice died down and he fell silent. Hermione's insides squirmed with guilt and she moved to touch Harry's hand gently.

"I'm sorry I made you remember that," she told him, and she was being honest. It had been a selfish thing to do. Harry smiled at her.

"Don't be. I also had to tell Ron, when the time came. But I wasn't as emotional as today, though," he replied, making Hermione chuckle.

"Did you just chuckle?" Harry asked playfully, and Hermione fought to keep her face straight.

"Nah... I'd be forced to move too many facial muscles," she retorted, making Harry grin. Hermione grinned back and suddenly realized how much she had missed smiling.

-+-

The cold, sharp wind blew snowflakes around the street, which was slightly covered in frost. The snow made crunching noises as their feet stepped over the sidewalk; and the comfortable peace was only broken with the sounds of the trees moving with the wind. Harry and Hermione walked in silence towards the nearest subway; Harry was going to work (Aurors still had a lot of work to do) and Hermione had tagged along for two reasons.

First, she might be able to get a job. She regretted quitting on the other one... After the talk with Harry about Sirius's death, and her VERY vivid dream, she had felt the need to get out of that house. Maybe, the problem was that she spent too much time locked in there. And second, Christmas was coming. This season reminded her of Sirius and how it had all started: Too many memories, plus Grimmauld Place, minus Sirius, multiplied by the fact that she was alone most of the time, equalled disaster.

So there she was, walking though a December blizzard and feeling alive again. She felt cheerful, free, and had energy to spare.

The Dementor living in Grimmauld Place would pay, dammit.

Hermione giggled as she thought that; and the sound made Harry smile. She seemed to be another person: the old Hermione he remembered. When she had requested if they could walk instead of apparating, he hadn't had the heart to refuse. Though this meant that Hermione actually wanted to move, he had been concerned that Hermione wouldn't be able to make it to the tube station. For a few months now, little efforts seemed to drain her. But the walk hadn't drained her. She was very much alive and kicking next to him, she was even giggling!

"I knew you had to get out of the house," Harry broke the silence. Hermione breathed in deeply and nodded.

"Yeah," she replied, smiling. "I hope I can get a job," she added. Harry grinned.

"Hermione, you have gotten twelve outstanding N.E.W.T.s and eleven O.W.L.s," he told her, making Hermione blush. "But if that doesn't convince them, we can always ask Ron to pull a few strings," he added. Hermione's smile widened.

"I hope it doesn't get to that," she said. "Either way, I just want to have something to do rather than lying on the couch," she added.

"I totally agree," Harry told her, happy that she was so... not worked up about that problem of hers. This could only mean improvement.

Right?

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Hermione just couldn't stop smiling as they entered the Ministry of Magic. Wizards and witches fell to the floor from the chimneys and some others apparated, but all shook the snow off their clothes and smiled in relief to the warmness inside the atrium. Hermione just loved that, but she didn't know why. She followed Harry through the crowd and waited for the elevator to come in silence. Once it did they stepped in, followed by several sleepy looking people. Harry pressed number two and then another serious looking wizard pressed number nine.

Hermione's breath hitched as the elevator went down slowly, rattling. Harry also looked uncomfortable, but neither of them spoke a word. The noise around Hermione seemed to dim down and there was nothing else except her nervous breathing. "Department of Mysteries," said the cool female voice, and the doors opened. Hermione stared at the door at the end of the corridor, transfixed. She wanted to enter that room again. Something called to her, something willing her to step out of that stupid elevator and just step inside that circular room again; daring her to find the one with the veil in it-

"Hermione," Harry's voice broke her reverie. She blinked and discovered with much surprise that Harry was actually holding her back as the wizard stepped out of the elevator and walked towards the door at the end of the corridor. She wanted to follow him. Harry squeezed her shoulder, she blinked again, the doors closed, and the feeling was gone.

"Sorry," Hermione apologized in a daze, while Harry looked at her worriedly. They didn't speak again, but Harry kept glancing at her furtively, cautiously. Once they had reached level two, Harry at once went over Auror headquarters (Hermione slowly walking behind him), where they found a yawning Ron sitting on the chair behind his desk. He looked up and beamed at the sight of his best friends.

"Harry, mate," he greeted, shaking his hand with Harry's. "Hermione, how are you?" Ron asked next, going over to kiss her on the cheek. Hermione didn't answer at first, but then she slightly shook her head and looked at him. She looked millions of miles away from were they where.

"Oh, hi Ron... Good morning," her voice was slightly off, and she moved to kiss his cheek. She couldn't get the image of the dark corridor out of her mind. Why had she felt that urge to return there? Ron glanced at Harry with a questioning glance and Harry looked at him meaningfully.

"What brings you here, Hermione?" Ron asked, going over to sit on his chair again. Hermione was staring at the elevator at the far end of the corridor.

"I'm looking for a job," she answered slowly. "Something muggle related..." she trailed off, as if she wasn't even aware that she was talking. Ron smiled.

"Well... You either can get one in the office were my dad used to work... Or maybe in the offices on level five," he suggested. Hermione nodded absentmindedly and then seemed to snap out of whatever she was thinking to look at Ron with the ghost of a smile.

"Yes, I had that in mind... At least I'll be close to you guys... Where is that office?" She asked.

"The other side of the floor," Harry replied. Hermione agreed with her head.

"Well then... I'm going to see if I can get something. See you later," she told them, going out of the cubicle and disappearing around the corridor. Ron gazed at Harry.

"What's wrong with her?" he immediately wanted to know. Harry shrugged.

"When we got to the elevator, we had to go down to level nine," Harry began. "The door opened and her eyes unfocused when she saw the corridor. It freaked me out, to be honest. I had to grab her shoulder for her not to go out," he explained. Ron frowned.

"Why would she want to go down there?" Ron voiced the question that drilled Harry's mind.

"Heck, it beats me. But I didn't like the look on her face. Freaky, I tell you." He said. Ron shook his head.

"And how is she doing?" He wanted to know. Harry sighed.

"Well... Apparently she had a nightmare that kept her up the whole night. She doesn't want to tell what's wrong with her, but what shocked me the most is that today, well; she asked me how Sirius had died." Harry said. Ron raised his eyebrows.

"Just out of the blue?"

"Yeah. As I told her she had this weird, terrified look in her eyes. I'm telling you, Ron, something is seriously wrong with her." Harry was clearly upset.

"Indeed..." Ron said. "But at least she got out of the house today, didn't she? That's good." He added. Harry sighed again.

"I guess so. But still..." Something in his friend's voice made Ron widen his eyes in surprise.

"Harry... You don't fancy Hermione, do you?" He questioned. Harry looked down and didn't reply- When he looked up, his cheeks were slightly pink.

"Of course I don't," he responded aggressively. Ron raised his right eyebrow but didn't say anything. Harry looked straight into his eyes and then pursed his lips, as if admitting defeat.

"Okay, maybe a little," he finally confessed in a mutter. Ron grinned.

"And what about her?" He asked. Harry glared at him.

"How should I know? She hasn't been exactly talkative these past months, as I'm sure you have noticed," he replied. Ron raised his eyebrows and then his hands.

"Whoa, okay... Didn't know you were so sensible about it,"

"I'm not sensible about it," Harry hissed. Before Ron could utter a reply, Hermione appeared at the door again with a grin on her face.

"They accepted me!" She exclaimed before either of the boys could ask anything. "They want my curriculum, but they'll let me bring it tomorrow. Isn't it great?" Her enthusiasm was such that Ron and Harry couldn't help but to swell with pride at their best friend. Hermione beamed at them and then went to hug Harry, causing the slight blush on his cheeks to spread to his neck.

"Thank you, Harry," Hermione's voice came muffled, and Harry clumsily patted her on the back.

"For what?"

"Oh, in a way, it was you who convinced me to get out of that house," Hermione explained, smiling at him.

"Really? Well... I'm glad," he replied, not looking at her eyes. As Hermione hugged him again, Ron lifted a piece of paper on which he had written "YOU REMIND ME OF GINNY" for Harry to read. Once he did, he turned scarlet red. With a subtle wave of Harry's wand, the paper now said "SHUT UP, WANKER. SHE LEAVES AND IT'S AVADA FOR YOU". Ron laughed loudly at this.

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"I'm exhausted," Hermione happily said as they walked towards Grimmauld Place again. It was very cold and it was getting dark, but she didn't seem to mind. Ron, who had decided to spend some time with them, pursed his lips.

"You look too cheerful to be exhausted," he grunted. "It's not as if you did much today," he added. Hermione frowned.

"Where's Luna, Ron?" Harry asked quickly, sensing that an argument was coming. His friend sighed.

"Oh, you know her. I sent her a memo in the Ministry, but who knows if she got it. I told her to come to Grimmauld Place... Hope you don't mind?" He asked. Hermione shook her head.

"Of course not. Where is she working, anyway? Is she still in the magical accidents and catastrophes department?" She asked. Ron nodded.

"Yeah, and enjoying it immensely," he said with a smile. Luna and Ron had gotten together quite a long ago, nearly a year, if Hermione was not much mistaken. In some ways, Hermione was kind of envious of their relationship. They were so happy.

Soon enough they found themselves in front of Grimmauld Place, going up the even more worn steps, and Hermione's gut clenched at this. It reminded her of that fateful winter day, two years ago. Harry knocked on the door, making the other two look at him in surprise.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot to tell you... I have a surprise for you!" Harry said to Hermione and Ron. "Someone's coming over to visit. He must be here already!" he announced excitedly. He must have tried not to show his excitement during the day. Well, he had done a good job. Hermione was about to ask who when they heard footsteps nearing the door, and she turned to stare at it. Snowflakes were falling on her head...

The heard the lock go 'click' and the door slowly opened. Hermione looked up at the person and let out a strangled gasp. As the sharp moonlight illuminated the door in one second, in one split, terrible, horrifying and exhilarating second, she saw Sirius standing there, smiling at her.

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A/N: Oooooooh! I hope that this is a good cliffhanger. Sirius? What? Where? (grins) Changing the subject. This story's now been hit like 868 times... Does this mean you people like it or not?? Please let me know by reviewing! Pretty please? On the other hand, for those who do review... Thanks a million!