Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of the Harry Potter characters. Everything belongs to JK Rowling, and I'm merely allowed to play around with them. No copyright infringement is intended.

Thanks a lot for the amazing feedback, people! All these reviwes keep me going! :D WARNING: This one owns its rating too… You have been warned. But then again, you probably came here for that, didn't you? He he he...

Chapter 33

-o-O-o-

"Good evening, students." Hermione said with her magically transformed voice. "As you have surely heard from Professor Dumbledore, my name is Professor Sinistra, and I will be teaching Astronomy from now on. Now, any questions before I give you your first assignment?"

Her class of fourth years yawned slightly.

"Good." she said. "Now, for next week, I want a foot on five stars of the Andromeda galaxy. You mat begin your observations now."

A girl with strawberry blond hair raised her hand.

Hermione nodded towards her. "Yes, Miss…" She remembered her name, but it would seem strange if she knew it when the girl hadn't even presented herself.

"Smith, Miss." the girl answered. "Theresa Smith. Can we choose the five stars we are to talk about?"

The teacher nodded. "It is compulsory to choose these five stars, Miss Smith. Any other questions?" she asked. Seeing that no more hands were raised, she nodded. "Very well. You can start working."

-o-O-o-

Teaching Astronomy was rather easy, Hermione noted. Her student rarely disrupted class, seeing as they were tired by the time it came. The only class which did stir up some trouble were her seventh years, which she had Saturday at one o'clock.

One student, whose name was Charles White, raised her hand to say: "But what if we can't write because we're in an environment with too much sexual tension?" The guy even had the nerve to wink at her.

She had kept her cool and answered: "Well, I suggest you try writing with your other hand, Mr. White."

The whole class had laughed and she had earned a reputation of a good teacher, able to handle a class, without seeming to uptight, like McGonagall, for example. Most, if not all, of her students, liked her, and seemed to respect her.

Regulus, on the other hand, had seemed boring from his first class. His homework, according to the rumours, was too hard, or too long, although the man himself insisted that his students were just lazy.

On the weekend, however, both of them left their costumes and had uninterrupted time together. They would make love, read, talk, drink tea, and make love some more. One Saturday, which happened to be Valentines Day, they had just finished a particularly good session and were lying down, when Regulus declared: "We should tell Dumbledore about the engagement."

They were both stark naked, his chest flat against her back, both watching the flames flicker in the fireplace. She craned her neck to get a look at his face. He looked dead serious. She sighed. "I'm pretty sure he already knows." she whispered.

He shrugged slightly. "So? We're going to have to ask him to marry us one of these days."

She looked, and was, surprised. "He can marry us?" she asked, baffled.

He stared at her. "Sure." he said. "In the Wizarding world, people are married by members of the Wizengamot. I guess he'd want to do it, like that he could hide our papers." He grinned. "And then you'd be stuck with me for the rest of your life."

"Why?" she asked, smiling as he nuzzled her neck and started kissing her there. "Can't we divorce?"

His hand snaked around to grab her breast and she moaned slightly. "We could." he teased. "But I wouldn't let you." He rolled around so that her stomach was flat against the thick woollen carpet and kissed her between her shoulder blades. "You're mine." he whispered, grabbing her hips.

She moaned as he sat back up, pressing his erection at her entrance. "Yes." she whispered, breathless with anticipation. "Yours." He entered her slowly and she gasped, arching herself against him, burying him deeper inside her warmth.

He groaned and pulled back, before slapping himself back in rapidly. She arched herself against him and they commenced a rhythm that fit the both of them. The friction they felt was incredible, not to mention the love leaking through their pores. Soon enough, she had to gulp down her pleasure to prevent herself from coming too soon.

However, she couldn't hold it in forever and soon she was panting. "Regulus…" she said. "I… Gods, I'm…"

"Let go." he ordered her, still moving his hips restlessly in hers. "Let it all go."

She did as she was told and, a couple of minutes later, gasped and stiffened as her whole body broke with the intensity of her pleasure. "Regulus!" she cried out, clenching him so hard she was sure she would never let go.

He gave a loud groan and spilt himself inside if her, calling out: "Hermione!" For less than ten seconds, both felt as if in heaven, then felt dizzy as the world came back swimming into view.

Panting, they watched the flames flicker some more, much less bright now, before she declared: "Tomorrow. We'll go and see Dumbledore tomorrow."

-o-O-o-

The next day, both had their camouflage back on as they walked to the Headmaster's office. Hermione was first, and she barged in as if she owned the place. Barely a meter in, however, she froze. Peter, Sirius, James and Lily were talking to Dumbledore, and all froze too when they heard the door open.

"Hershel! Stella! To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" the eldest man said, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

"Erm…" Hermione tried, but she was too surprised to say anything.

"Oh! Where are my manners?" Dumbledore exclaimed, walking around his desk as all four others turned around to face the intruders. "Children, these are two new teachers: Hershel Vector, who teaches Arithmancy, and Stella Sinistra, who teaches Astronomy. Hershel, Stella, I'd like you to meet some of my ex-students, James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew."

"It's very nice to meet you all." Hermione said, smiling despite her want to cry.

Sirius walked over to her, smiling, and grabbed her right hand so as to kiss her knuckle. "It's nice to meet you too." he declared. "It's very rare that I meet such a lovely lady in such a place, but I think I'll be able to cope."

Hermione mentally face palmed herself. Sirius never changed, did her? "The same goes to you, Mister Black." she said, before turning to Dumbledore "We can come back later, if we're bothering you." she said. Regulus hadn't said a word.

The professor shook his head. "We had just finished talking, anyway. They were leaving. Weren't you kids?" They all nodded. "Well, I'll see you Wednesday, then." he declared cheerily.

They left the room, James and Peter passive, Sirius sort of flirty, but Lily… Her baby bump was showing slightly, and she was staring intently at Hermione, lingering at the door to stare at her some more. 'Maybe she's suspicious!' she though, but quickly banished that thought. It was literally impossible… Right?

Dumbledore broke her out of her reverie. "You wanted to see me."

"Yes." Regulus said, with his no longer transformed voice. "We wanted to announce that we're getting married." He grasped her hand with that statement, and they smiled at each other.

"Oh!" he gushed. "Wonderful news! Of course, I'd already had students telling rumours about your engagement ring, Hermione, but you just confirmed it!"

She giggled a little. "Would you…" she started to ask, but he beat her to it.

"Draw your marriage contracts?" he asked. "Of course I will! Someone needs to muffle this whole story." he said the last part with a wink. "Anyway, if that's all you needed me for, I'd be glad to release you from my office."

Regulus nodded. "Thank you." he said sincerely, and they headed out. It was only when they were back in the safety of their quarters that he hugged her close and whispered: "I love you." in her ear.

She answered similarly and neither was seen until dinner came.

-o-O-o-

"Don't you think something was fishy with them?" Lily asked the others once they were out of Dumbledore's office.

James looked confused. "Who?" he asked.

"Hershel and Stella." she explained.

Sirius gave her a doggish grin. "Other than the fact that she is the prettiest, sexiest, hottest, most attractive girl I've ever met behind Hermione?" he asked. "I haven't noticed anything." he said, shoving his hands down his pockets and still smiling goofily.

"Something was off." Lily persisted.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed. Lily looked at him expectantly, but all he said was: "She must have been thrown off by my amazing good looks!"

Peter rolled his eyes. "You're not that good looking." he put in.

Sirius shrugged "I don't care if I don't attract males, anyway." he declared. "Just Stella… Hmm… Stella Black sounds nice." he put in, his smile returning.

James sighed. "Since you are too much of a lovesick puppy to have noticed it yourself, Padfoot, she wears an engagement ring. And since she and that Hershel bloke came in at the same time, I'd guess she's getting married to him."

"Him?" Sirius asked, affronted. "Why would she go for that weird, old, balding dude when she can have a sex bomb like me?"

"Back to the point!" Lily said. "How would you explain that she knew you were Sirius and not James or Peter?"

Peter shrugged. "You and James certainly look like a happily married couple, so she couldn't mistake them both." he reasoned.

"Besides," Sirius added, his forefinger placed on his chin in a thoughtful way. "She's probably heard of my famous sexual prowess somewhere."

Lily sighed. "But why was Hershel glaring at you like crazy, then, Sirius?" she asked, trying to prove a point.

"Lily, love," James tried to reason her. "If he really is her fiancé, he wouldn't like it too much if Sirius got a little close. Even," he added when he saw Sirius take in another breath to boast and gloat about his physical attributes. "If he knows he has nothing to fear."

Sirius pouted and Lily let it go for now.

-o-O-o-

However, when Lily and James were alone at home, she started talking about it again. She was slicing some carrots and he was reading his newspaper, when she called out: "I think it's Hermione."

"Hmm?" James asked, not looking up from his paper. "What's Hermione, honey?"

"Stella." she explained. "And Regulus would be Hershel. Both of them would be in disguise."

James put his paper down and hitched his glasses higher up his nose. "What makes you think that?" he asked softly.

"I never believed Hermione was dead in the first place." she explained. "If she's not dead, then Regulus isn't either. Besides, Sirius showed us the voicemail Regulus left her. He loves her. We all knew Hermione had feelings for him, but what if it had been love all along?"

"She loved Sirius." James said, almost trying to convince himself.

"What if she didn't?" Lily asked, slamming her knife down as she finished cutting up her carrots. "What if she just missed Regulus and Sirius was the closest thing she had to him? When she heard that voicemail, she probably took her chances and they decided to live a new life together."

"Hermione wouldn't ditch us." James said, sensing that this was going to go downhill.

"He's a Death Eater!" she said. "Maybe he turned her into one too and now they're both spies for Voldemort, and Dumbledore actually believes their false identities! What if-"

"Stop!" James cut her harshly. "Listen to yourself speak, Lily! This is madness! Hermione a Death Eater?! May I remind you that they were the ones that destroyed her home and her family, why on Earth would she join them? I agree that Hermione may have kept many things from us, but she really did love us. Do you remember what she said at Mary's funeral?"

Lily nodded. "Cowards die many times before their deaths, the valiant never taste of death but once." Her eyes filled up with tears.

He nodded. "It seems to me most strange that men should fear, seeing that death, a necessary end, will come when it will come."

Lily burst in tears and fell into his arms heavily.

James held her as she cried. "She's dead, Lily." he whispered. "I know you miss her horribly, but she's gone… And as much as everyone would like her too, she's not coming back."

He didn't notice, but as sobs wracked through her body, she shook her head defiantly.

-o-O-o-

Please review! What do you think Lily will/should do? When will baby Harry be born? What did you think of this chapter (I was nervous about the sex scene, I've never written one before this story)? You can even just give me name suggestions if you want! :)