Disclaimer: is not, was not, and never will be mine! All credit to the incredible JK Rowling! I do own the plot and some characters though!

Chapter 10: Truth of the Lie

To say things were strained between the two groups would be an understatement. For Hermione, she was constantly hurting, a deep ache which she didn't know the cause of. She had turned him down! She didn't want to be with him like that, she didn't want to go to Hogsmead with him. So why did the mere thought of him cause the ache to intensify? As if seeing him every day wasn't enough, her dreams, or nightmares, were full of the anguished look she had caught a glimpse of as she had fled the room. She had never meant to cause him any pain, but he was Sirius Black, no girl could tie him down. He'd be okay, he'd get over it. They'd be friends again and their friendship would be restored. Right? Because more than anything, Hermione felt the pain of not having Sirius in her life. His absence had added to the void within her, already caused by the other loved ones missing from her life. There was no one to give her an entertaining running commentary though their lessons, or someone to lean on as she read. She missed the mischievous glint that was ever present in his beautiful eyes.

For Sirius, her parting words rang in his head throughout each day, on repeat. Engaged. Engaged. Engaged. Engaged. She was engaged. How could she be engaged?! She was barely 16, it didn't make sense. Hermione had remained closed off about her past with the group, and they had all made a conscious effort not to push her. They knew next to nothing about her that they hadn't witnessed for themselves. She had been avoiding him these past few days, and he her. And it was like the two groups had never merged. The marauders refused to let Sirius be alone at any one point, and though he could tell they missed the girls, they didn't mention it once. The girls were intent on getting Hermione to talk. After all, though they were not supposed to have heard anything, they had heard it all. They had heard the underlying agony in her voice, a pain so deep it made them sad to the core just to hear in her voice. This was something the boys seemed to have missed. Though they loved Hermione, they were angry at her. Angry because she had 'broken' Sirius and then not stepped in to put him back together. The girls showed their support by remaining by her side.

What Hermione couldn't miss was the glares she received from most of the female population. No one had missed how close Sirius had become with the new girl, and they were all jealous. They had also noticed that no gossip had been spreading about him and his latest conquest. Meaning he hadn't had one. And they all blamed Hermione for them losing out on the chance to bag the estranged Black heir. Now though, not only was he avoiding his old behaviour, he was avoiding her as well. Due to this, Hermione noticed girls beginning to close in on him, eager for a shot. She called them The Vultures. She hated them. She was jealous of them, though she would never admit it. They could carelessly flirt with Sirius, whereas she couldn't even look at him anymore.

"Earth to Mione" her head snapped up. It was Friday night, the Hogsmead trip was tomorrow. Lily was looking at her, half amused, half concerned. She had convinced (bribed and threatened) Hermione to come tomorrow with the girls, excluding Evanna who was going with Xenophilius.

"Huh? Sorry Lils, just blanked out for a while there" Hermione smiled guilty at Lily, who was giving her a knowing look.

"Honestly hun, I get that you're not going to talk about it but I'm here if you need me. However you need to sort something out between you and Black, because you're both miserable! I hate to see you down, and James is saying Sirius is the same" she really hated seeing Hermione down. Finally, the numbers in the girls were even, and she was no longer a fifth wheel. She cared about Hermione a lot, like a sister. No, she thought to herself, better than a sister. She bitterly reflected on her relationship with her own sister, knowing Hermione had been a better sister to her than Petunia.

"I'll think about it, it's not that simple! No, don't argue, trust me it's not. And oooh James? So not only are you willingly talking to him, you're on first name terms!" Hermione winked at Lily. If one good thing had come of this, it was that it seemed to be succeeding in getting Lily and James together.

Lily blushed furiously and glared at her friend. Her liking James, honestly? She had only just learnt how to stand being around him and talked to him for the sake of Hermione. "Don't make me laugh, the only thing that's changed in my view of James Potter is that I can stand being around him. There is NOTHING there and never will be!" Lily took a deep breath after her outburst and turned to see Hermione simply grinning at her. "Oh shut up, let it go Mione!" then they both burst into fits of laughter, and had a great night with the girls, full of gossip.

The first Hogsmead weekend dawned crisp and windy, matching the white blanket of snow that awaited the students outside. Hermione had got her permission slip for Hogsmead signed by Professor McGonagall, due to the fact that she was meant to be her guardian. Despite the awkward feelings between Sirius and Hermione, she was actually looking forward to the trip with the girls. She hadn't spent time with anyone outside of work back in her time for such a long time, this was going to be so refreshing.

Sirius kicked the snow moodily, as the marauders made their way into Hogsmead. He hadn't been able to get a certain witch off his mind at all, and it was beginning to get on his nerves. He wished it was just because she was the first girl to turn him down. Or because she had someone else. No, it bothered him because she was the first girl that he had liked disregarding her looks. Not that she wasn't pretty, she was stunning; but it was her sharp tongue and sense of humour, her protective qualities regarding her friends, or how easy she was to get along with. He loved the way her eyes sparkled with mystery and secrets. He didn't know what he felt for Hermione Granger, but he knew it wasn't simple lust. In a way he wished it was, because at least he would understand what was happening to him. He wanted, no he needed, to know what she had meant when she said she was engaged; how was that possible? She was only 16!

James and Remus steered Sirius towards their favourite joke shop in a hope of cheering him up. Sirius was a lively guy, and it was wrong that he was so subdued. James had decided it was time to put some pranks into action so that Sirius would have something else to think about.

"So Mione, we hardly know anything about you! Come on, this is the sharing shack" Marlene flashed Hermione a grin as the girls laid out their picnic in the shrieking shack. Marlene had always been an honoree member of the marauders for years, and along with their shared love for rule breaking, they had shared some of their secret entrances to the shack.

"I… Yeah, you're right I guess and I trust you guys" Hermione took a deep breath, this is exactly what she hadn't wanted to do. She had known it was coming, but she didn't want to have to lie to her girls any more than necessary. "I was born in London, but grew up in Northern Ireland, where I was home schooled as wished by my parents. I was an only child, but I was best friends with my two neighbours… Reece and Hamish" Hermione took a deep breath, knowing she shouldn't really say Harry and Ron. She would tell them eventually. "The three of us were really close, and I never really had any girl friends except for Reece's little sister. They were all home schooled with me eventually, which was great. This year, the three of us were out for the day in town. When I got home my parents were… Well they were d-dead. There were all sorts of traces of dark magic around the house, and most of it was destroyed. Harry- sorry Hamish, and Reece's families took them away into hiding, I never saw them after that. I spent the next few days salvaging what I could from the house and packing it, when there was this pulsing light. I grabbed my stuff and walked towards me and it transported me here. And that's it, that's where all you guys come in" she sighed sadly. They were going to be sympathetic with her over her fake life.

"Oh God Mione… we had no idea… so so sorry! I understand why you don't like talking about it, but if you ever need to we're right here" Lily squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Totally hun, we love you! But if you don't mind me asking… engaged?" Marlene smiled sheepishly. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to".

"No that's alright. My family and Reece's family were close even before we were born. When we were growing up together, our parents tied us together. Me and Ron started dating just over a year ago, but we were already engaged" Hermione felt a tear trickle down.

"Ron?"

"Sorry, Reece. It was a… nickname me made" Hermione cursed her slip up.

Later that night, Marlene relayed everything Hermione had said to Sirius. She felt an overwhelming sense of guilt and felt as though she was betraying her friend, but as far as she was concerned, Sirius needed to know. To help him understand, he needed to know. He needed to forgive her for hurting him and get past it, because he was the only one who could truly comfort her.

A/N

So, another chapter! What do you guys think?

Reviews

Ann - great observation there, I haven't really clarified that, you'll have to wait and find out! Ron's awesome! Bit of an idiot though... Either way, Sirius is waaaay better! And ah, thank you! I was wondering about that actually, but I wasn't sure. I'll go back and correct it when I get a chance. Yeah I thought so too, so what I was thinking is finish this one (pretty sure it'll be long anyway) and then cover parts of sixth as a prologue to seventh?
Hugs, Rads x

Charlotte1782 - Thank you! I thought so too

bma925 - There's always time for a bit of Disney! and The Little Mermaid is amazing... Thank you, that means a lot! Sev will be coming up soon :)

Well, that's it, love you all!

Rads x