"Nice of you two to join us," Tonks teased.

Sirius gave her a mock sneer before taking his seat next to Hermione as Teddy launched himself across the table, "Aunt Mini!" She caught him with a surprising amount of grace.

"Good morning little love!"

"I was worried about you," he whimpered.

"Did I scare you love?" He nodded into her curls, "I'm sorry." Hermione cradled him in her arms until he calmed down. Turning him to the table she tickled him and he morped, hair growing longer fading into a light brown and his eyes and nose rounding out. Remus chuckled as his son morphed to look like his godmother and handed her a bag across the table.

"What's this?"

"Something that helps me with my nightmares" he winked.

Looking into the bag cautiously she removed the large vial and sniffed getting hints of lavender, eucalyptus, and honey. "That's heavenly, Remus."

"Just put a bit in you bath and it will help. I use it after the moon."

"Thank you," she smiled, gently putting the vial back in the bag. Sirius took if from her and leaned back to put it on the counter.

"Are we ready to eat?" Molly chimed and food began to cover the table.

Everyone settled into happy conversation and playful banter, all thoughts of the night before and earlier outburst forgotten. Much to Ginny's relief Hermione offered to get James when he started to cry. Apparently James had transitioned from an easy sleepy infant into a grumpy fussy little monster. Politely excusing herself from the table she set Teddy down in her spot and went upstairs. She found James on his stomach, face red as he screamed.

"You definitely have your mothers temper," she chuckled as she picked him up. Unlike usual he continued screaming and Hermione decided she wasn't going to take him back down stairs until he had quieted some so instead she summoned a bottle from the kitchen and used a warming charm to get it to the right temperature. Sitting down in the rocking chair she feed him and burped him when he was done. He started to fuss almost immediately so she swaddled him tightly in a blanket and when he seemed happy enough she took him downstairs and rejoined the table.

Ginny looked at her as if she'd grown a second head, "How?"

"She has a touch Gin, she was the same way with Ted. Still is." Tonks interjected and Hermione turned back to her breakfast unable to hid her smile as Ginny huffed.

Teddy tried to climb back into her lap but resigned himself to staying beside her when he noticed James in her arms with a small pout gracing his face. Sirius noticed his expression and laughed sending her a wink, "It's okay little wolf, I don't like sharing her much either." Shaking her head in response she giggled before kissing the boy on the forehead.

"Mione, can I talk to you for a moment in private?" A voice came from the doorway startling everyone.

"W-what are you doing here Ron?"

"I wanted to talk to you. If you are willing to hear me out."

She looked at him with a calculating stare before nodding slightly gave Lavender a sweet smile, "Good morning, sit have some breakfast." Seeing the look on Sirius's face she leaned down and passed him James, whispering "I'll be right back" in his ear before kissing him swiftly and leaving the room. Walking past Ron she started up the stairs without saying a word, she could hear him behind her so she didn't falter on her way to the library. She sat in one of the chairs by the fire and waited for him to speak.

"Mione, I am so sorry."

"How did you not know Ron? We were together for 5 years after the war and most of that time we shared a flat and a bed. You slipped me the potion more times then we'd care to admit and still you remained ignorant to the effects."

"I knew...I just didn't know how to help you beyond that. I knew that even if you still had the nightmare at least you'd get a proper amount of sleep. I never noticed your scars though...probably because I didn't want to..." He couldn't even look at her.

Hermione had a hard time breathing at this point. "It's worse than the infidelity. You willing turned your back on my problems because they were a nuisance for you. How can you claim to have loved me and do that?"

"I do love you Mione."

"You don't do that to someone you love! You don't knowingly inflict more pain on them so you can sleep better."

"I'm sorry. I know you're with Sirius and I know he's stolen you -"

"He did not steal me!"

"You have Sirius and I know you're both committed," he quickly amended,"And I am working hard on my relationship with Lavender, but I would like to be your friend again."

"I don't trust you Ron. This will take time so don't ty to rush it or push me." He nodded slightly and slumped onto the couch. "I'm going back downstairs. You can stay up here as long as you need but don't take too long or your fiancée may get the wrong idea."

Hermione was lost in her thoughts when she rejoined everyone in the kitchen so much so that she didn't notice Sirius and James were missing let alone that everyone was silence, staring at one another with pure astonishment on their faces.

"Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,
Lavender's green
When you are King, dilly dilly,
I shall be Queen,"

Hermione stilled hearing the soft baritone drift through the room. An ache blossomed in her chest as she listened.

"Lavender's green dilly, dilly
Lavender's blue
You must love me, dilly, dilly
'cause I love told you so, dilly dilly,
Who told you so?
'Twas my own heart, dilly dilly,
That told me so"

Her eyes welled with tears as she redirected herself and made her way to the doorway of the sitting room. From there she watched as Sirius rocked and sang to the babe swaddled in his arms. She wrapped her arms around herself and absently grabbed the pendant at the base of her throat. At the contact Sirius looked up at her and continued to sing as a smile played at his lips.

"Call up your friends, dilly, dilly
Set them to work
Some to the plough, dilly dilly,
Some to the fork

Some to the hay, dilly dilly,
Some to thresh corn
Whilst you and I, dilly dilly,
Keep ourselves warm

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly,
Lavender's green
When you are King, dilly dilly,
I shall be Queen"

Breaking their eye contact Sirius looked down at James and grinned seeing that the babe had fallen asleep. He continued to rock and softly spoke, "Euphemia Potter used to sing that to me when I couldn't sleep. It's the only thing I could think of, you were busy, and Ginny just looked so frazzed."

Chocking out a noise that was somewhere between and sob and a laugh she smiled, "You should see the look on her face now." Walking up to him she carefully raised a hand to his cheek, running her thumb along the stumble of his beard smiling lightly as he closed his eyes and leaned into her touch. "I love you Sirius Black."

His eyes widened slightly at her confession before he grinned and looked at her with silver eyes and kissed her palm "I love you Hermione Granger." Her heart skipped a beat hearing him say the words back to her. They stayed like that for what felt like hours before she kissed him and led him back to the kitchen.

Conjuring a bassinet she sat back down and took Teddy in her arms as Sirius gently set James into the bassinet she'd conjured and cast a quick silencing charm. He turned back to the table, leaning nonchalantly back in his chair ankle crossed on his knee, one arm on the bassinet rocking it softly. Content that James wouldn't wake he looked to those staring at him around the table. "Lets have it then."

"Pads, I've never heard you sing sober before." Remus mused earning a snort from Sirius in return.

"Sirius that was beautiful," Ginny whispered wiping a tear from her eye while Harry looked over her head and winked at his godfather.

"You're going to be a wonderful father mate," George said impulsively taking no notice to Hermione's wince.

She felt Sirius's hand on her back. "I think so too George," she breathed delicately turning to give him a soft smile, "You will be an amazing father one day."

After everyone left Hermione and Sirius retired to the library where they currently lounged. Hermione sat with a book in her hand running her hand through Sirius's hair as he laid in her lap reading his own book. He had been trying to read ever since they came into the room but he found he couldn't focus. You will be an amazing father one day her voice kept ringing in his head. What did she mean? Is she preg-no she couldn't be. Could she? Does she still think I need to find someone else?

"Hermione."

"Hmm?"

"Did you mean it when you said you love me?"

That made her put her book down. "Why would you ask me that?"

"It's something you said earlier, I can't get it out of my head."

"I'm confused."

"Are you planning on leaving me?"

"What?! That's absurd!"

Sitting up he put his elbows on his knees and dropped his head into his hands. "You said I will be an amazing father. Last time we talked about children you told me I needed to find someone else."

"Sirius..."

"You are the love of my life Hermione. I didn't want to scare you by saying it when I first felt it but you are. I love you. I never thought I would ever have this kind of a connection with a woman and I don't care about children as long as I get you-"

"Sirius, stop!" she said grabbing his attention she pulled at his shoulders until he sat up and threw a leg over his lap, taking his face in her hands. "I love you. I'm not leaving you. I plan on staying with you as long as you'll have me. And I meant what I said, you will be an amazing father Sirius because one day we will have children. It maybe not right now but we will." Sirius had practically become a statue under her hands. "You are the love of my life. I am not going anywhere, no matter what happens."

He closed his eyes at her words and leaned into her embrace. "The first time I saw you with Teddy was the first time I ever thought of myself having children. And now anytime I envision having child it's you I see swollen with my child or with our child on your hip and I can see you doting on them like you do Teddy and James. I would love to have children but I only want them with you."

"I love you."

"And I you."

His words a fire lit in her stomach and she couldn't help but kiss him fervently. Lost in the moment she bit his lip a little too hard, accidently drawing blood, "Shit I'm sorry," she fumbled, scrambling for her wand to heal him. With a rumble of laughter, he grabbed her wand from her hair and stripped them both before pulling her back to him and picking her up just enough to guide her down on him. When he was sheathed inside her completely he thrust his hand into her hair and kissed her with renewed passion, "Mine," he growled into her mouth.

"Always," she grinned as she started to grind her body down onto him and they lost themselves in one another.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Hermione blew into his office like a hurricane, her mane of hair wild around her face and a large wet spot on the front of her blouse. "I have obliged you and allowed these new aurors to watch me for weeks but by Gods Harry if you do not remove him from my sight I will kill him!"

Harry fought the urge to laugh at her outburst knowing that if she caught even the hint of a smile she would hex him instead. Hearing her bellows Ron made his way into his friends office and sat in the seat between them, ready to watch the show.

"Why do you look so smug Ronald Weasley?" she demanded, leaving him cowering in his seat unable to meet her eyes.

Leaning back in his chair Harry risked looking her in the eye, "Mione, Dabney is who we have on rotation today."

"When Olivia brought me tea he practically tackled me to swat it from my grasp insisting that it could be poisoned!" Her glare grew hot seeing Harry grin at the recount of her morning, "I'm serious Harry, he does stuff like this every time he is there. You need to get him away from me or I swear to Merlin I will hex him into oblivion!"

"You know we can't do that Mione," Ron braved, "We're strained as it is, we don't have anyone else today."

"Then I will go the day without someone!"

"Absolutely not."

"We're in the ministry for Gods sake, do you two honestly think Dolohov is going to attack me here?"

"He has before," Harry glanced painfully down at her abdomen and gave her a sad smile. "We're not taking any chances."

She fell into the chair next to Ron and scoffed, "Honestly that was 7 years ago and we were in the middle of a war at the time."

"And yet somehow that package wound up on your desk last month. Which might I remind you we still have no idea how it got there or who delivered it."

"I'm going home then, I'll not have that imbecile shadowing me for the rest of the day. I'll end up in Azkaban before lunch." Standing she took her leave, sending a stinging hex at the pair when she heard them start laughing. Arriving back home she called out for Sirius, when he didn't respond she figured he was out and quickly made her way upstairs to change. After showering and redressing in a comfortable pair of jeans and a simple blouse she decided to fire call Ginny.

Pushing her face through the fire she called out for her best friend who scrambled into view a few seconds later.

"Mione, are you okay?"

"I took the day off work because your husband refused to relieve me of my detail. But I don't want to stay in either, do you want to go to Narcissa's boutique and help me look for a dress for the Halloween ball they're hosting next week?"

"Bloody hell I forgot all about the ball! I'm on my way, just let me grab James."

"Do you want to meet me there?"

"Sure, sure," she called over her shoulder already leaving the room.

Saying their goodbyes, Hermione closed the network and apparated to Diagon Alley. Without giving it much thought she grabbed her necklace and sent Sirius a small message letting him know her new plans for the day. Walking down the alley she got felt almost free, it was the first time in weeks that she'd been alone without an escort. Entering the store she came face to face with Draco Malfoy.

"Granger?"

Making an attempt to straighten herself back out she grinned, "That's me. What are you doing here?"

"Seeing as this is my mothers store, I think its more fitting to ask why you are here?" he swiftly countered with a smirk.

She laughed at his remark and moved around him towards the dresses lining the back wall, "Well you see I was invited to this ball next week and I really need a new gown. And seeing how this is a boutique and I had such a lovely experience last time with your mother, I figured I would look here first."

Before Malfoy could retort Ginny came through the door with James in her arms, "Potter."

"Mafloy."

Chuckling silently at the pairs greetings, Hermione met Ginny halfway and moved to give her a hug, "Thank you for coming Gin. I couldn't stand that imbecile Harry put on my protection detail toady!" Pulling back she collected James from his mother and cooed to him, "There's my little man!"

"Protection detail?" Startled Hermione turned to face the blonde she'd forgotten was there.

"Um yes."

"What do you need protection from?"

Shifting James to her hip she gave him a questioning look. He stared at her with his usual mask of indifference but his grey blue eyes looked worried. Why would he be worried? Ginny was the one who answered him, "Not that its any of your concern but there is still a death eater on the loose and he had his eyes set on Hermione."

Shock replaced his mask and his eyes widened slightly, "Dolohov? You shouldn't have shook your detail Granger. He always had a real infatuation with you."

"I can take care of myself Malfoy, why does everyone keep forgetting that?" She spun on her heel turning towards the dresses once, effectively leaving the question hanging in the air. With James on her hip she started to look through dresses, pulling one out here and there to send it into the dressing room. Behind her she could hear Ginny and Malfoy talking in hushed tones behind her. As she finished sorting through the dresses she shot the pair a look of disdain before moving into the dressing room and stepping into a changing room. When Ginny didn't follow her, she conjured a bouncing seat for James before trying on the first dress. It was a soft blue and flattering but it showed too much cleavage. Discarding it she moved onto the next one and continued in that fashion until she slipped on a silver silk dress. It clung to her like a second skin. It was a halter top with a neckline that plunged to the start of her diaphragm and the hemline dipped to her mid back, not as deep as her dress from the gala but enough to show the smooth skin of her shoulders blades. There was also a daring slit on the left side that came up mid thigh.

Back in her own clothes she picked up James who was starting to doze off and secured him to her chest before making her way from the dressing room. She approached the counter and frowning slightly as the pair before her stopped talking when they saw she was back in the room.

"Find something to your liking Granger?"

"I did, no thanks to either of you." Smirking as her words caused Ginny to blush. "What have you two been discussing?"

Recovering quickly Ginny looked down at Hermione's breast, running a finger along her sons face, "Oh just reminiscing, you know."

Not buying it Hermione gave her a "mhmm" before handing the dress over to Malfoy. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of the dress and gave her a nod of approval before using his wand to pack away it away. "Anything else Ms. Granger?"

"No I think that's all, thank you."

"What?" Ginny squeaked, "No you need shoes and underthings for that dress." Grabbing Hermione's arm she dragged her away. "These!" Hermione looked at the shoes Ginny held up and immediately shook her head.

"No those are too much! I think these will look much better," she countered holding up another pair. They were the same silver as the dress she'd picked and they had a simple design that made the straps across the top that looked like vines. Ginny smiled in approval and moved to the lingerie section. After a short debate Hermione won out with only a few pairs of nickers before leaving Ginny and making her way to the counter once more.

"What about a bra?" Ginny called.

Hermione rolled her eyes and blushed, avoiding looking in Malfoys direction, "I won't need one."

In front of her Malfoy's breath hitched silently and she heard a laugh from just behind her. "You'd think you swallowed a toad Malfoy," frowning at Ginny's comment she looked up at Malfoy. He was paler than his normal completion and he had his hands with the lid hovering over her final package. Seeing the blush creep into his cheeks Ginny laughed, "She is a woman you know?"

"Ginny!"

"Bloody hell Potter, obviously!"

Thoroughly embarrassed Hermione collected her bags and mustered up a professional smile, "How much Malfoy?"

"It's already been taken care of Granger."

"What do you mean?" she replied visibly confused.

"Mother and Lord Black have come to an understanding that anything you purchase from this store will come from his vault. I've been instructed to put it all on his tab."

Hermione looked at him with shock, hearing Ginny giggle behind her she spun around to face her.

"Come on Mione, are you really that surprised? He dotes on you as much as you allow. I wouldn't be surprised if he did the same at Florish and Blotts."

"He wouldn't," she gased, disbelief flashing across her features causing Ginny to laugh as she shrunk Hermione's packages and put them in her bag before looping her arm with hers and pulling her from the store, "Lets go see shall we?"

Much to Ginny's dismay they spent an hour in Florish and Blotts as Hermione collected various books from the shelves. At the counter Hermione grabbed her beaded bag to pay when the cashier stopped her with a bright smile, "It's been taken care of Ms. Granger." Hermione stared at the young girl wide eyed as Ginny burst out into a fit of giggles.

"I'm going to kill him," Hermione grumbled as she left the store, sending Ginny into a new round of giggles.