Woo! New chapter! Thanks a trillion to my beta! Thanks mish!

Sirius felt a wave of pure anger flow over him and jumped to his feet. How dare Ron kiss Hermione? Before he could form another coherent thought, he blurted, "Hey! Get off her will you?" Even he could hear the jealous edge in his own voice.

Hermione finally succeeded in wriggling out of Ron's iron grasp when she heard Sirius' outburst. Did he sound jealous? She looked at his face, and it was still twisted in a curious mixture of anger and confusion. Impossible, Hermione thought. He is Sirius Black! Ladies man extrodinaire. I must just be hearing things. Then her mind got back to the more important matter at hand. She turned to Ron, "What the bloody hell was that?" she asked, her voice laced with malice.

"But... I thought... We... But..." stuttered Ron, looking dumbfounded.

"Once again, Ronald, you thought wrong!" she screamed in his face before storming out of the room.

Ron looked around the room with wide eyes. "Guess I shouldn't of done that." He looked to Sirius, who was still on his feet, obviously oblivious that Sirius had even said anything in the first place. "What are you doing, mate?"

Sirius thought fast. "I am still a little bit off, you know, can't sit still for too long. It's been a while since I've really been able to move around at all," he bluffed with ease. He was used to it. After all, he was the biggest prankster in the entire history of Hogwarts, and had to lie himself out of quite a few sticky situations...

"Ahem," coughed Dumbledore. "Perhaps someone should go find Ms. Granger. She seems in need of someone to talk to at the moment." When Ron headed to the door, he spoke again. "Maybe it would be more prudent if it was someone else." He looked pointedly at Sirius.

"Oh, all right," huffed Sirius. At least it will get me out of the room, he thought to himself. He needed to get away from Ron as soon as possible, as there still might be a chance that he would say something that would drive Sirius completely off the deep end.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Hermione found a quiet little corner in the room where the fireplace was, and sat herself down on the floor so she could put her thoughts in order. She had no idea why Ron would kiss her.She had thought that their relationship was purely on the friendship level and nothing more. She didn't want any more than that from him, anyway. Yes, things might not have been going too well between them at the moment, and perhaps he mistook the almost constant fighting for a sort of twisted flirting. If that was the case he was severely deranged in the head. Like Hermione knew anything about twisted flirting techniques.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard someone enter the room. She looked up and saw Sirius standing in the doorway and she looked down again, embarrassed.

"Are you okay?" he asked, coming closer.

"I'm fine. Absolutely splendid," she muttered sarcastically. He walked across the room to sit next to her on the floor, folding his hands into his lap.

"You know he didn't mean to offend you," comforted Sirius. She peered at him through her hair and snorted.

"Of course he didn't. I don't think that Ron would purposely offend anyone. It just caught me by surprise, that's all," confessed Hermione. And it was true. She didn't think that Ron meant to make her angry... he was just a little dim.

"So you didn't want him to kiss you?" asked Sirius. Hermione didn't catch the jealous undertone to the question.

"Oh no, not at all! Nothing against Ron or anything, but he is not the type of person I see myself with," replied Hermione, fiddling with the edge of her shirt.

Sirius leaned closer. "And what kind of person do you see yourself with?"

Hermione sighed and put her head against the wall. She closed her eyes. "I see myself with someone intelligent, someone that I can have a conversation with that does not immediately turn to quidditch or what kind of tart they prefer. I want someone who will respect me and care about what's on the inside, instead of the outside." She opened her eyes and exhaled. "Not that there's anything on the outside to care about, really."

To Hermione's surprise, Sirius laughed. "Nothing on the outside to care about? You must not see yourself clearly, Hermione. You are a beautiful young woman. I bet you have a whole trail of admirers!"

Before Hermione could reply, they footsteps and quiet mutterings coming down the hall. A moment later, Dumbledore, Harry, and Ron entered the room.

"I think that it's right time for us to depart for the night," said Dumbledore to Sirius. Sirius got up off the ground, and offered Hermione his hand. She took it and he pulled her off of the floor. What he didn't realize was that, instead of pulling her up like a nice gentleman would, he tugged her off of the ground so fast that she smashed into his chest. His arms tightened protectively around her to keep her from falling. Hermione giggled. That was the second time today she had run into Sirius... not that she minded.

"Steady," laughed Sirius in her ear. He released her and watched as she went to stand by Harry and Ron.

"I'll be seeing you guys soon," Sirius said as he swept into a deep bow. "Feel free to stop by anytime, seeing as I'll have nothing to do for the next couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to a visit!"

Ron, followed by Hermione and Harry, stepped into the floo to Dumbledore's office. Soon they were accompanied by Dumbledore and were sent to bed, each with their own minds working overtime to process everything that had happened that day.

---------------------------------------------------------------

One Week Later

"Miss Granger! Miss Granger! Wake up!"

Hermione opened her eyes groggily and saw the face of Professor McGonagall. Tomorrow was the day that they would all be leaving Hogwarts for good, and Hermione was rather reluctant to let go.

"Wha-?"

"You need to leave now! Follow me to the Headmasters office at once!" exclaimed the flustered professor.

Hermione sat up, grabbed her robe, and had to jog to keep up with Professor McGonagall. They entered the Headmaster's offiice, and Hermione saw Dumbledore, Snape, and Sirius all standing at the far side of the room.

Hermione had enough. "What is it?" she asked.

Dumbledore turned to her. "I'm sorry Miss Granger, they have your parents."

Hermione felt her heart leap into her throat, "Who? Who has my parents?!"

It was Snape who spoke next. "Death Eaters."

Hermione's vision blurred around the edges. The last thing she remembered was slowly sinking towards the ground.

GASP! hahahah! I'm so evil . Remember to review!