*Pouts childishly*. Not fair! No one even tried to solve the riddle! No fair! Well, I'm just not telling you what the cipher is.

So there!

You'll die of curiosity!

MWAHAHAHAHA!

Alright! So I can't make someone curious! Alright!

But… I was going to make Sirius kiss Hermione senseless and declare his undying love for her this chapter, but I guess Hermione will just have to do with marrying Ron…

*Laughs evilly*

Flamegirl5500: Thanks. It wasn't a bit off track? Or maybe that's just me…

CeliaEquus: Oh, that would be wonderful… Or at least hilarious. Maybe I'll make a oneshot about it… *Eyes lighting up at the thought of humiliating anyone in a story (hey, I just love it when people are embarrassed! Not my fault! Or maybe it's just because I seem to attract human suffering… Joking… Or not)*

HarryPotterWillLoveMe4ever: Thanks. Nice username.

Concerned ():

Problem 1 (Fred & George): Originally I was planning to disregard that and pretend they never left, but looking back, I've changed my mind. I'll go back and change it the next chance I get.

Problem 2 (Is Hermione 10?): While you do have a point, everyone has the right to act a bit childishly every once in a while. In my mind, she's been taking Draco's taunts, name-calling & bullying in relative calmness, with almost no retaliation for 6 years, so she considers this to be getting back at him. If I were her, I would act childishly on purpose to further enrage someone who's been taunting me for 6 years. But I will try to make her a bit more serious.

Problem 3 (Friends don't recognise her): While you may be right, at the Yule Ball, it still took Harry a few minutes to recognise her, and then all she did was straighten her hair. And that's just Harry. No offence, if you're a boy, but I think that males pay less attention to detail than females. Especially Ron.

In the books, I think he comes off as a loyal, brave to the point of being an idiot, stupid, slightly arrogant, tactless person. I mean, he only really started making an effort to win over Hermione after he got tips from a book! If his behaviour in canon is anything to go by, the only reason they got together in the first place is by him acting kind & considerate. In short, acting NOT LIKE HIM. Therefore, I don't believe he would be able to tell the difference from a pretty brunette that looks vaguely like Hermione and Hermione.

Serianna14: Thankyou! I thought you'd stopped reading! I know… I am ashamed with myself for not putting him in there somewhere, maybe in a jealous rage at Draco and Hermione being friends…

I also apologise about the delay in updating. It's been about 2 or 3 weeks. Sorry, I was on a holiday meant to treat my mother to as much seafood she can eat and a few days fishing. Sadly, we only caught 1 fish. Well, two if you count the inedible Toad Fish.

RECAP:

FearMyWrath: Hermione, can you please stop talking to Ginny on IM? It's time for Quidditch practice for the next game.

FearMyWrath: Srry. Harry got hold of the computer.

Book-Loving-Brunette: I gathered that.

FearMyWrath: ttyl?

Book-Loving-Brunette: Nope, srry. I gotta do schoolwork.

FearMyWrath: *Rolls eyes*

Book-Loving-Brunette: Bye!

FearMyWrathlogged off

Book-Loving-Brunettelogged off

Hermione shut down the computer and got out her History Of Magic work. She had it done in half an hour.

By dark, she had finished all of her schoolwork and was tired again. She changed, showered, brushed her teeth and got in bed.

She was asleep instantly.

RECAP OVER

Hermione got up bright and early of her own accord for the first time in months. She did all the morning necessities, but hesitated on wether or not to use her new look. It did nothing but attract the added attention of McLaggen, but it was better to be gawked at for 'beauty' than because she was friends with Harry Potter.

In the end, she decided to fix her hair and make up, but just wear a pair of old jeans and a T-Shirt.

Maybe then people would figure out who she was before she had to tell them and then take part in the awkward conversation that would follow.

After she was done, she decided to head down to dinner, but just as approached the door, she heard a deep voice on the other side of the door. She halted, thinking that it was Harry or Ron, but when the portrait opened, she was faced with a concerned looking Sirius. She closed her eyes, prepared herself for another awkward conversation and stood aside, letting him step inside her room.

She closed the door and locked it to give her an excuse to turn away from his penetrating gaze. She sighed in an aggravated manner and sat down next to him on her bed.

"Are you related to Professor Dumbledore?" She asked unexpectedly, her arms crossed.

He blinked, caught off guard by the unexpected question. "No" He said, slowly.

"Oh, so all men know how to glare at someone like they're X-Raying them" She said grumpily.

Sirius let out a bark of laughter, before growing serious again. "Anymore dreams?" He asked quietly, in a concerned voice.

"No" She said truthfully.

"If you do, you have to promise me that you'll tell me." He said, his eyes meeting hers as he tried to adopt a stern face.

His 'stern' face seemed to not do much good, as upon sight of it, Hermione burst out laughing. "Sorry—" She laughed, breathless "but the look on you're face—" She said, exploding into giggles again. She caught her breath back and spoke, this time without giggles… Well, almost. "You don't do stern very well" She said.

"I know, It's more Remus's forte" He said with a grin on his face.

Before her lingering anger at him almost telling the other Marauder about her dreams evaporated, she wanted to ask him another question. "Why is it such a problem, Sirius? They're just nightmares"

"Nightmares about one of the vilest wizard on earth and his sidekick, who also happens to be an evil bitch. Not to mention, if I'm right, having these nightmares almost every single night? Which then leads to less sleep. Less sleep means more stress, stress can be related to anxiety, anxiety causes you to skip several meals and loose weight that you don't need to." He said reasonably. And she hated him for it. She was supposed to be the reasonable one, not Sirius, the Hogwarts bad boy!

She overlooked his language, and instead pondered upon a thought that popped into her brain "Do you know why the wards I put up aren't working anymore?" She asked. Sirius would probably be experienced in wards and the like from his time on the run from the law, she reasoned.

"No idea" He said smoothly.

That was how she knew he was lying. It was impossible for him to not have any idea on the subject, even if it was just to blame it on Snape somehow. Suddenly, she had a thought. Perhaps he was the one to take them down. He did seem to be a little angry that she was warding her room, and it would be just the kind of thing he would do. She contemplated on how to call him out on it. Just asking him would result in denial, so she had to try to trick him. "I don't believe that." She said flatly. "You must have some idea or opinion, you might have taken them down yourself!"

Sirius chuckled "You won't get me that easily" He said.

"Aha! But I just did!" She said triumphantly "Why did you take them down? I have no desire to let Malfoy come into my room and hex me while I'm taking a nap." She said accusingly.

"Damn." He said, realising that he had been caught. "The only reason I know you've been having nightmares about my ever so dear cousin Bella" His lips curled disgustedly at the mention of Bellatrix "was because you forgot the Silencing Charms. So I took them down" He said.

"That was not your choice to make! You are neither my father, nor my head of house, and as such you have no right, to alter the state of my room against my wishes" She said, even in her anger managing to form intelligent sentences.

"How much have you eaten this week? How many full nights of sleep have you had? How many times have you has the opportunity to tell someone that you never get a nights sleep and eat one meal a day?" He asked, his voice rising in volume.

Hermione opened her mouth to respond, but Sirius cut her off. "The fact that you haven't told your father, or your head of house, or even your friends tells me that you are trying to hide this! If they are just nightmares, as you say, then why hide?" He said as he stood up, almost shouting now.

Hermione stared in shock at him while the meaning of his words caught up with her.

"You're right." She said quietly "I'm sorry."

Sirius sat back down and spoke to her "Now, will you tell me if you have another nightmare?"

"Yes" she acquiesced. "But can you still please not tell anyone?" She pleaded, looking him in the eye.

"Fine" He said.

She smiled and looked at him, catching sight of the clock on the wall. She sighed in relief. She really didn't want to be late again.

The comfortable silence was interrupted by an unfamiliar hawk-like owl.

She stood up to let the owl in, and untied the letter from its leg. The animal flew out the window, and Hermione shut it again. "It's from Victor" she said to answer Sirius' questioning glance.

He walked over to where Hermione was currently reading the letter from Krum. He tried to read over her shoulder, but Hermione beat him to it and rolled it back up again before he could.

"So, what's Vicky got to say?" He asked, adopting Ron's nickname for the Quidditch player.

Hermione scowled, but refrained from commenting. "Nothing much, just some stuff about school and Quidditch" She said casually.

But Sirius wasn't convinced. "I thought you were tired of hearing about Quidditch?" He asked with a slightly suspicious edge to his voice.

Hermione blushed slightly at her slip up and explained "I am, but Victor talks less about the game and more about the players on his team". As she talked, Sirius slipped his wand from his robe pocket and inconspicuously waved his wand so that the parchment on the desk started to unfurl. "But isn't that gossip?" He asked to keep her going while he read the letter.

..And, once again, I am sorry. You are very forgiving, Hermione.

Was all he could read before Hermione caught on and snatched the parchment off her desk, glaring at him.

"What's he sorry for?" He asked.

Hermione, still glaring, waved her hand dismissively and answered "It's nothing, really. Just something he did when he visited."

"What?" He asked persistently.

"Fine, but you have to promise to never tell Ron in any way what I'm about to tell you" She warned, an Sirius nodded his head solemnly.

"When he dated me, he was on orders from Karkoff to collect information about Dumbledore and Hogwarts. He apologised, of course. It wasn't his fault, because if he didn't he'd be kicked out of Durmstrung" She explained.

"But why not tell Ron?"

She sighed. "When I was dating Victor, Ron got very possessive of me. I think he had a crush on me then. He said that he was only using me and that I was behaving like a hysterical fan girl" She said. "I just really don't want to get him started again."

"But isn't he right?"

"Not really. Victor told me when he was about to leave that he really did have feelings for me." She said, blushing slightly.

"So why did you break up?" He asked as he felt an irrational flood of jealousy. Why do I care who she's dated? Hermione, though, didn't seem to notice his small lapse in attention and slightly darkened look.

She shook her head slightly and shrugged "It just wasn't right." She said helplessly, unable to explain any further and baffled why she wanted to. Why am I answering his questions in this interrogation of sorts? Why am I offering details of my love life?

She took another look at the clock and did a double-take. Half an hour had passed since he walked into her room with concerns for her safety.

She sighed in distaste. "Time for me to get to class" She said reluctantly. She didn't know why she was, but for some unknown reason she really didn't want the Marauder to leave.

Sirius looked amused and stood up to leave. "What's so funny?" She demanded.

"For once, you don't sound like you'd walk through fire to get to Transfiguration" He explained, chuckling slightly.

Hermione huffed as he walked nonchalantly out the door. She sighed once he left, and wrenched herself from her bed. She made her way through the castle, letting her feet guide her to her class as her mind pondered why she was suddenly so partial to Sirius Black's presence.

I was originally planning to make this longer and add at least one more scene, but it's at least -5°, and as a consequence, my fingers are threatening to fall off due to frostbite.

I do not believe it is humanly possible to type in gloves. It can not be done.