A/N: Hey guys, thanks for taking the time to read this fic! I love you all, and I don't own these characters!

George looked on edge as Sirius walked out of the dining room and into the large foyer of Grimmauld place. Hermione avoided the red-head's eyes as she slowly scooted out her chair, the legs of it scratching miserably against the floor, and followed her husband.

She closed the double doors to the dining room and kitchen slowly, feeling comforted by the loud click as they locked before turning around the face the rather imposing man standing opposite of her. If it was possible, he looked angrier than he had at the dinner table; having drawn himself up to his full height and regarding her with an impassive look. Hermione was more than a little bit scared.

It took him moments to speak, but in the meantime Sirius was more than capable of speaking with those dark eyes of his that she always found so devastatingly gorgeous. She was momentarily lost in thought about how the part of his body that used to ignite so much pleasure in her, could now scare the living daylights out of her. They were telling her he was furious.

"Is it good with him?" Sirius' voice was so low, a mere whisper in the quiet, dreary hallway. There was anger there, and resentment dripping from his words.

She hesitated, "It's not the same," she finally answered truthfully.

"But does he make you happy?" he continued, and it sounded as if it was painful for him to even ask.

"Sometimes."

"Do you know how humiliating it is for me to have everyone know you are being unfaithful?" his low voice turned into an angry growl and a shudder passed through her. She thought about this very fact often, and sometimes didn't know why she did it. Hermione had always been the picture of loyalty, of fidelity. She supposed she cheated because she wanted him to notice. But it was a poor excuse.

"Of course I know that Sirius. But do you have any idea how embarrassing it is for everyone to know my marriage is falling apart?" she turned it back on him, still trying to keep her voice down, knowing full well that George would be trying to listen.

"You aren't helping matters…" he muttered acidly. Hermione sucked in a breath to keep from retorting something equally stubborn back. When they fought they often got nowhere.

"I miss you," she breathed, "so much." It couldn't have been truer, and the way she spoke it was so honest and innocent. Practically pleading. There she was, Hermione Jean Granger, on her proverbial knees begging for her husband to love her back again. She was exhausted and helpless.

To her great sadness, Sirius didn't answer right away. He just kept staring at her, leaning against the wood-paneled hallway draped with tapestries and staring. Six months ago she would have run into his arms and hugged him. But now there was a wall between them so high that she didn't know if she could ever manage to scale it.

"Is George as good of a lover as I am?"

Hermione couldn't help but give a slight smile at the slightest tone of insecurity in Sirius' voice that gave him away. She had been with the man long enough to know he was a jealous one when he felt threatened. His attitude of cocky bravado was only half natural, after all. As pissed off as he seemed, this question gave Hermione hope that he still cared…even if his pride was just wounded, it was better than nothing.

Against her better judgment, she made a rash decision to goad him, "It's a toss up, I think."

She smirked and took a step forward but her answer didn't get the reaction she had hoped for. Sirius grabbed her arm, pulling her towards him and spinning her so that her back slammed against the wall he was previously leaning against. He stood close to her, but his body didn't touch her. She winced at the harsh contact with the wall; staring up into his burning eyes.

"A toss up?"

"Sirius, you know bloody well there's only one man I want loving me but he refuses to touch me," she replied scathingly. It was the truth, however, and the pain she felt from his rejection caused tears to prick in her eyes.

Little did Hermione know that he wanted her so badly it hurt. He had wanted her the second he saw her in the kitchen in that dress. But George had come over and acted like he now owned her and Sirius' desire only increased. The only reason he was keeping an inch of distance between his body and hers was because he didn't want her to feel it.

Seeing her with another man made him desperate. He finally realized things were almost to the point of no repair, and it was a dire situation for the fact that he was the most stubborn man on the face of the planet.

Her breathing had quickened and Sirius could smell her arousal. Half of him wanted to pin her to the wall right there and show bloody George that she was his wife, and the other half of him was still so overwhelmed by sadness and anger that he wanted nothing to do with her.

"Sirius, please just kiss me. Kiss me and I will walk in there and tell George it's over," she whispered. He closed his eyes and sighed. He let his forehead rest against hers as he debated what to do. He wanted her to stay, but he also didn't want it to be this way. He knew he had been the worst husband over the last half a year, but his heart was broken that she had strayed.

"Please," she begged. He felt the tear fall down her cheek as he pressed his cheek against hers. His lips were so close to hers and he longed to taste them again. His body needed her, but his mind warred with him. He was a Black dammit and he would not put up with that shit.

But then again, she was a Black now too. Technically.

It took all of his willpower to pull away in one quick motion, and that small but powerful movement told Hermione all that she needed to know. The tears started to flow freely as she wrenched away from him and walked back into the dining room. Sirius stood against the wall again, breathing in deeply to try and keep his emotions in check.

"George, let's go," he heard Hermione say through gritted teeth. There was a shuffling of chairs and feet and the pair burst back out through the double doors together; George's arm around his wife protectively.

George stopped and stared at Sirius, who knew he looked like a defeated old man, before saying, "Fuck you Black," and walking out the front door of Grimmauld place with the woman he still loved more than anything in the world. He just didn't have enough in him to show it.

Minutes after the door slammed after them, Sirius went to the cupboard in the kitchen where he kept his firewhiskey and grabbed a bottle, forgoing a glass. He padded up to their bedroom, sitting gingerly down on the cold sheets before cracking open the top of the bottle and taking a long swig of the burning liquid.

00000

Hermione, covered in a thin sheen of sweat, rolled off of George after an hour of intense sex. She had literally taken her sadness and frustration out on him, her nails scratching none too kindly down his pale back and her teeth leaving marks on his broad shoulders. He was exhausted and happily sated; whispering sweet things into her ear that she ignored before falling into an easy sleep besides her.

Hermione got up carefully and dressed, finding a bit of parchment in his messy room and writing him a note explaining it was over, and that she didn't want to see him in this way ever again. That she needed to try and make things work with Sirius. And that she loved him as a friend. And thank you, and all of that kind of thing.

It had nearly ripped her heart out when Sirius still refused to touch her, and she had left with George in the hopes that maybe they could start something. But somewhere in between the throes of their now-final romp, she realized that as much as she was thankful for George Weasley, it all had to stop. Regardless if her marriage was over or not.

She penned a second note to Remus telling him that she had broken off her affair, like he had hope she would, in case the werewolf still planned on meeting with Sirius the following day. After those two chores were done, Hermione took off in the middle of the night to her very last resort—the Potter's.

A/N: Thanks for reading, it is a little short, I know, but I didn't want it to be combined with the next chapter where Remus and Sirius have a talk man to man. So leave me love or concrit!