DISCLAIMER: All characters and settings are the property of J.K Rowling. I'm just the girl who likes to play in her world.

Chapter Two: Trusting the Unknown

The morning sunlight was slowly creeping in through the window illuminating everything in its wake. Hermione awoke to the feel of this sunlight's heat tickling her skin. She mumbled something incoherent and tried to swat it away with her hand, having no energy she gave up after one failed attempt. She was lying in somebody's bed; she knew it wasn't hers from the lumpy feel of it. Groaning she pushed herself up to rest against the headboard, she rubbed her tired eyes with the back of her hands then opened them. She could tell she wasn't in her room, but she was definitely still at Grimauld Place.

Looking around she noticed the small bookshelf with very few books on it, the posters that clung to the walls had girls and various Quidditch players on them. The small couch on the opposite wall had a coffee table sat in front of it, it looked somewhat out of place due to its clean nature. As she looked down at the bed she was currently sitting in something seemed to click in her mind. She was in Sirius's room. She quickly scrambled out of the bed to stand up but as soon as her feet hit the floor she collapsed with a scream and landed in an ungraceful heap. She stayed there for a moment with her hand over her mouth. Nobody ever went in Sirius's room, not after his death, what on earth would posses her to come in here? Come to think of it she couldn't even remember walking in here, the last thing she remembered was a book in her hands. There was something she was forgetting, something important. The image of a big black cat and a thunderbird intertwined entered her thoughts, and then it all seemed to hit her at once. The notes that were written in a cryptic message, the bottle that held somebody's memories and it glowing blue, then the distant feeling of panic.

Hermione was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the door behind her open. With a creak a tall boy slipped into the room with a smirk on his face, when he spoke her entire body froze up.

"What are you doing on the floor? Aren't you cold?" He asked looking at her attire. She could recognise that voice anywhere even if it did sound lighter hearted than she remembered. No amount or order training could have prepared her for this moment.

"It's ok Hermione. You're just hallucinating or dreaming." She said to herself closing her eyes and expecting to wake up in the library again. When she opened her eyes she was still in the same room with the boy now standing in front of her. She was paralyzed and helpless to do nothing but stare at his boots, hoping against hope that she hadn't finally cracked under the stress of late.

"Is that your name? Hermione?" She was silent enough to hear him breathing. She nearly started to cry from the pain that was in her heart as she watched his hand appear in front of her to help her up. They were plump and full of youth, nothing like the skinny wrinkled ones she remembered.

"That's a very pretty name. Here, let's get you off the cold floor, you must be freezing." She shakily brought her hand up to catch a hold of his and she felt him pull her entire body up so she was standing in front of him. He was smiling at her, a genuine smile. She'd forgotten how friendly he was and how he made you feel safe, just by being in the same room as you. She could feel herself giving him a small sad smile back as she looked at his youthful big eyes and perfectly kept hair. It struck her so surreal that she was seeing him how he was, it didn't seem real but regardless of reality or not she wasn't going to pass up the chance to just be with him. She took a slow unsteady step forward, then ran at him full force and flung her arms around him in a fierce embrace; she cried into his shoulder and whispered into his ear

"Sirius."

She could feel that he was hesitant at first but when she began to cry hysterically she felt strong arms close around her body as he held onto her tightly. She could faintly hear him saying something to her trying to comfort her, but it was blurred out due the pounding of her own heart in her ears and the uncontrollable thoughts that were telling her 'He's real. You're actually holding onto a dead man' 'This should be Harry's moment, not yours'.

When she felt him rub small circle onto her back she started to calm down and her sobs subsided to short ragged breaths; which would catch in her throat every now and then. She could smell his scent clinging to his clothes. He smelt of fresh air and something that she could vaguely place as cooked food. She smiled to herself as he pulled away from her to look into her eyes.

"Oh you poor thing, look at you. I don't know why you're so upset to see me. Though I must say it's not the first time a girl has cried my name and flung herself at me." He said jokingly to her. She smiled at that and let out a small laugh, she remembered Sirius telling her one evening that he had been quite the player in his youth. She could see why, even through blurry eyes he was quite handsome.

"Let's get you sat down and you can tell me who you are, and how you seem to know me. I certainly can't remember meeting you before." He took her arm, led her to the couch and sat her down.

"Wait here, I'll get you a blanket." he went to look inside his closet for one. She looked down at herself and realized that she was only wearing an overly large tee-shirt; she guessed that it belonged to him. She felt a blush creep to her cheeks as she realised that her legs were bare from mid thigh downwards.

"Got it" Sirius said to himself and pulled out the blanket and closed the closet door. He walked over to Hermione and spread out the blanket and gave it to her.

"Here you go it's really quite cold in here. Sorry about your clothes but I wasn't going to let you sleep in jeans and a jumper. You've been asleep for two days, I would have been worried that you were in a comma, but you woke up every now and then for about a minute then passed out again." Hermione took in what he had said. Her mind was in a state of complete panic, but she just nodded at him with a blank look on her face.

The logical side of her brain was in overdrive running through protocols and plans, assessing the situation and devising the best course of action. This was how she had been trained to think when it came to unsafe situations, but there was a larger part of her that just wanted to grab every part of the boy and never let him go. This part of her overrode every defensive tool at her disposure and yet she found herself at a loss of what to do. her mind was in dead lock.

After a moment of awkward silence he sat down on the opposite end of the couch facing her and crossed his legs over one another.

"Hermione isn't it?" She nodded.

"I'm Sirius Black, but you already seem to know that." He said raising an eyebrow. She nodded again. A silence lingered in the air for a moment before he tried to make some conversation.

"Do you know how you got here?" she tried to remember but she couldn't, she just remembered the book.

"No. Do you?" She asked confused. Sirius was slightly taken back by the question and was hesitant to answer. He knew he was going to sound crazy but she seemed to be very trusting of him so he would trust her.

"I was in the library a few days ago when I got up to get a book, for this summer project at school, and when I came back there you were. It was quite scary actually; you were just sitting in the chair silently and had a big bruised cut on your forehead." He explained and she brought her fingers up to her head and lightly grazed the half healed bruise and winced in pain.

"I tried to heal it and it worked a little, I've never been very good at healing charms sorry." She gave a small smile and he continued his story

"Anyway I couldn't just leave you there and you didn't exactly look dangerous, which makes a difference to everybody else in this house, so I just put a quick concealment charm on you and smuggled you up to my room. You've been in my bed ever since." He finished with a cheeky little smirk on his face and she rolled her eyes.

"Oh I almost forgot." he said to nobody in particular and she watched him jump up and walk over to his bookshelf to get something from it.

"You had this with you. I have no idea what it is, it doesn't even open." He saw something cross through her eyes that looked like fear, but it was gone in the next second. She quickly took the book from him and held it tightly in her hands. When she spoke what she asked him took him by surprise.

"It's the summer holiday right?"

"Yep, it's the last day today. Tomorrow we go back to school." He replied happily, and slightly more confused than he had been before.

"That means I can go to Hogwarts with you. I can talk to Dumbledore; he'll know what to do." What she said had just caught up with her brain. Dumbledore, she was going to have to stay strong if she was going to see him; she didn't think she could take breaking down in front of him too.

"Wait a minute, how do you know I go to Hogwarts? Why would you want to come with me? I'm guessing you're about my age but I've never seen you at Hogwarts before." He said in a more forceful voice that wasn't calm anymore.

"Who are you?" he asked suspiciously. Hermione was split if she should tell him or not. She decided on giving him very vague answers, it would have to do for the moment; she couldn't risk getting herself into a whole heap of lies or truths before she had some real time to assess the seriousness of this predicament.

"Hermione Granger. I need to talk to Dumbledore about my … situation. I'm going to be starting at Hogwarts this year. I'm new here." Half truths would have to suffice. She was just hoping that he wouldn't ask about why she was in his house and how she got there. They were questions she honestly couldn't even begin to answer. She gave him a small hopeful smile and pleaded at him with her eyes. He seemed to relax some and moved off the couch to the door. She couldn't believe how trusting he was. She wondered if it was Azkaban that had made him so cautious of unknown people in the future, or if it was just the war in general. Surely the war had started by now and he was just leaving her alone in his room, she could be anybody and he still trusted her. That thought was somewhat unsettling but she was also glad for it.

"I'm going to get some food. I'd be surprised if you weren't starving, I'll get you some too."

"That would be great. Thank you." She said shyly.

"Feel free to move around and get comfy. Oh and your wand is under the pillow you were laying on." He said to her before he stepped out the door. The distinct smell of warm cooked food was starting to creep its way upstairs and into the room. It was only when Hermione felt her tummy trying to eat its self that she realised just how hungry she in fact was. Pushing the thought of food to one side she jumped off the couch and scattered towards the bed. She threw the pillows on the floor and saw her wand exactly where Sirius said it would be, under the pillows. She grabbed it and clutched it to her chest like her very life depended on it.

This was going to be hard.

Author's Notes- It had to be done. There was no way I could make this chapter more interesting, but the next chapter will be at Hogwarts and shall be fun.
Oh and I'm really sorry if there's any spelling mistakes, my eyes just look at everything telling my brain that the words are spelt right after a while of reading it over and over.

Same as yesterday... next chapter will be up tomorrow sometime; it might be a bit later because I've got a lot of things to do beforehand.
Hugs and love Destiniex

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