Disclaimer: All canon characters, places, plots and situations from the Harry Potter Universe belongs to J.K. Rowling. I make no profit from this.

Warnings: Rated M for language, violence and scenes of a sexual nature.

A/N: Upside of late post means you get two chapters in one day! I hope this chapter answers some of your questions. Thanks again for all the reviews and feedback, it's so much appreciated.

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WARNINGS FOR THIS CHAPTER:

Please note this chapter may include scenes of a sexual nature, including implied sexual activity as well as highly descriptive language, so if that's not your thing, move along.

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Chapter Twelve: Risky Business

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It was plain white box held together by a red ribbon and a floral card. Something about the thing had felt off when he looked down at it, and immediately his Auror instincts went into overdrive, Baric's smarmy face flashing in his mind.

"Now this is taking the bloody piss!" he snapped in disbelief. The utter gall of that toad! He stormed out of the room, nearly crushing the box in his hand. His head was pounding. When he got to the living room he threw a pinch of Floo powder into the fireplace and stuck his head in.

"Harry, you there? Come home. Now."

Having made the call, he slammed the box onto the table, awkwardly ripping the ribbon off with his free arm, and tossed the lid aside. If he could possibly get even more angry than he currently was, it was the contents of this gift that did it. Lying in satiny fabric was an exquisite dagger. The handle was made with intricate filigree work, inlaid with gold and precious stones. The blade itself looked sharp, if slightly rusty – an antique? – but the thing that sent him over the edge, causin the bubble of fury in his chest to explode, was the darkness that Sirius could almost smell rolling off the object. What the hell was this bloke playing at, sending Hermione something like this? Anything at all, for that matter – and now to her home? Did he think she'd accept it that way? Did the idiot have no common sense?

The Floo went and Harry entered the room, worry etched on his features, moving quickly with the alertness of a trained Auror. "Sirius? What's happened?"

Sirius turned to face his godson, jabbing a finger at the gift. "That. That's what's fucking happened. That bloody arsehole isn't satisfied with harassing Hermione at work, now he's sending gifts here. And take a look at the Harry, you tell me what the fuck kind of gift that is, hmm?"

He was in full blown tantrum mode, agitated beyond anything Harry had seen for a very long time. "Calm down," he said to his godfather, as he peered into the box. He could also sense the darkness, and felt some of Sirius anger roll through him at the thought of Hermione being sent something like this, and by that wizard who just simply could not take no for an answer. Quelling his ire, he used his wand to open the small card.

"There's no name on here," he said loudly. "We'll take it back to the Department and have it tested-," he said, turning around only to see the flash of the Floo. "Goddamit Sirius," he said, hastily using his wand to gather the box and its contents as evidence. He slipped it into a magically sealed bag and raced after his godfather.

It was Baric's unlucky day, for the Unspeakable happened to be uncharacteristically late for work. This meant that as Sirius came barreling through one Floo, several yards down the line, Baric was entering through another. Like a fawn that senses the presence of a predator, the young wizard suddenly looked up and into the eyes of what could arguably be a mad-man. Sirius Black was storming straight for him. He squeaked, grabbing his wand, but the spell was hardly uttered before the Auror was on top of him. Before anyone had even noticed, a brawl had broken out in the Ministry atrium.

In all fairness, Sirius would later (much, much later) argue, it could hardly be called a brawl when one wizard was getting the magic kicked out of him by the other, but seeing as several witches and wizards got pulled into the frey to intervene, it had attracted about as much attention as a brawl.

"Stop harassing her," he was shouting, when Harry entered the atrium through the Floo. He groaned, feeling as though he could quiet easily pull all his hair out at that moment. Bloody idiot, he thought. His godfather's voice carried across the floor. "If you send her one more thing, so help me Circe, I won't need a wand for what I'll-" His voice cut off abruptly as the Silencio Harry cast reached him. He certainly didn't need to add threats to what was already an absolute mess of a situation.

With another sharp wave of his wand Harry sent Sirius flying off his victim, sliding across the polished floor to some distance away. Baric was bleeding through the nose and looked disheveled; beside him and around him were the contents of his bag, squashed notes and what looked to have once been a rather expensive box of chocolates. At least he wasn't unconscious, though Harry, as several wizards stepped forward to help the man up. At that point a mediwitch had arrived to attend to him.

Sirius on the other hand, was getting no such care. "You've made me do this," muttered Harry angrily under his breath. He cast a full body bind on his godfather before levitating him behind him directly to the Auror Department. Lowering Sirius' onto the ground in one of their interrogation rooms, he went out, locking the door behind him, and was gone for some time before he returned, his expression even more grim. Tonks was with him.

"What the-" spluttered Sirius as he was released from the spells.

"I could ask you the same thing, Sirius!" yelled Harry, shocking Sirius into silence. "You just stormed into the Ministry and attacked, without provocation, a fellow wizard – and very publicly, I might add – while dressed in the robes and recognised as a qualified Auror."

"You weren't there, you didn't see the way he spoke to her, the way he touched her Harry," objected Sirius. Tonks was holding her face with both palms. "Sending stuff to the house? That takes the cake Harry, at least now he won't-"

"Baric didn't sent the dagger," cried Harry, pacing. "If you had waited and done things the right way, you would have known that. As it is, you've put your badge at risk, shown yourself to be a reckless fool, and you've put this department in a poor light, Sirius, not to mention what it looks like when you're my godfather!"

"Wha- Who sent it then?" asked Sirius, confused.

"We ran the diagnosis spells," said Tonks, calmly, bringing down the tension in the room only slightly. "It was an illegal portkey," she said grimly. "The Magical Objects department are still looking at it, trying to figure out where it was supposed to go."

Sirius felt physically ill, and terribly confused. The knuckles on his right hand had started to ache, and there was sharp pain coming from his injured arm, which he'd managed to wrench again. Harry said the parcel wasn't from Baric. Godric Circe and Merlin, he'd beat on an innocent wizard. Everything Harry said hit him hard. He was shocked into silence.

"We need to keep an eye on Hermione," Harry was saying, pacing again. "I don't want her to know about it. As far as anyone is concerned you came into this building an assaulted Baric on a whim," said Harry, his glittering green eyes daring Sirius to object.

"We're ninety-nice percent sure it was Greyback, possibly acting with someone else. He was the only one present at the Manor when Hermione was tortured-" Something in Sirius chest twisted painfully. "-who is still alive, and hasn't been cleared," said Harry.

"Dagger, filigree handle, Black insignia on the rear bolster," said Tonks, calling attention to Sirius' lack of observation. "Definitely belonged to Bellatrix. And there was dried blood on the blade. Hermione's magical signature. It was the blade Bellatrix used on her and there's no doubt it's Greyback. It was a message."

Sirius' blood ran cold.

"What's the next step?" he asked immediately, and if his hands were fisted in rage, he didn't notice.

"Not this one, mate," said Harry, shaking his head emphatically.

"What? Harry, why-"

"You're too close to this one Sirius."

"What the fuck are you talking about Harry, she's your friend too!"

There was suddenly something like sympathy in Harry's eyes. He opened his mouth, then paused.

"It's still fresh for you", said Harry, finally. "I've had years to get my head around these things, I can take emotion out of it if I need to. You can't."
"Fuck! Fuck Harry, that mongrel deserves to-"

"Exactly!", hissed Harry, the sympathy being replaced by anger. "You know what happens in the heat of passion, you lose your head for even one minute – that's how accidents happen! Look at what just happened out there! And we haven't even begun to deal with that fiasco yet! You're reckless, and it's a problem, Sirius." he said, scrubbing his tired face with a hand.

Guilt ran through Sirius at the word. Reckless. Like he'd been when he'd gotten himself thrown into the Veil, robbing Harry of his godfather again.

"I'm telling you guys because you're the only ones I can one-hundred percent trust right now, and I don't want Hermione to find out. I don't want her to be afraid, we are this close to ending this bastard. Sirius, you're closest to her. You can keep an eye on her." Harry got up, and said something to Tonks, but Sirius was still letting his words sink in. "Harry am I supposed to just sit around and twiddle my fucking thumbs? And not tell Hermione that we know this bastard is getting close? I want to do something, I want-"

"Sirius!" Harry's voice was firm and authoritative. He looked uncomfortable. "You. Are. Not. On. This. Case. This is non-negotiable, and if I so much as see you sniffing around where you shouldn't be, it'll be your badge, if it isn't already. Go to my office and take the Floo home," he ordered. "And stay there," he pressed. "I need to go speak to the Minister before this blows up in our faces."

Sirius worked his jaw, breathing hard, but left the room the second the door was unlocked.

Harry watched him go. "Does he even realise he's in love with her?" he said, exasperated.
Tonks shook her head. "He's hard-headed, my cousin is. I reckon he's never really had the chance to be soft before."

"Sir, Auror Black was injured on a case yesterday. His arm was broken with a dark spell and he hit his head very hard when he fell. It's my professional opinion that he is acting uncharacteristically, perhaps due to this injury and should be judged for his actions accordingly." Neville Longbottom had done many a dubious thing for the Order in his time, but he never expected to be standing in front of Kingsley, blatantly embellishing his assessment as a Healer.

The fact that the Minister was also a member of the Order and thus privy to the actual facts, only made it more nerve-wracking. It was, in the words of his grandmother – rest her soul – a complete clusterfuck if he'd ever seen one. Sirius was lucky that Neville had been the Healer to treat him at St. Mungos the day before, or this wouldn't even be a possibility. He looked sideways at the Auror in question.

Baric had decline to charge Sirius for two reasons: With such a public act in which he came off as the victim, his social status was renewed. Also, he was terrified that Sirius would come back for him. This, combined with Neville's testimony and the harassment to which Baric had admitted, saved Sirius' arse.

"You're suspended for a week and on desk duty for another after that," said Harry.

"Harry," objected Sirius weakly. He'd done this, gotten himself in a position where once again, he could not be of help.

"Please, please don't even try to complain about this Sirius," said Harry. I'm your boss, I can't be seen as being lenient with you, and quite frankly even this is stretching it badly. You're lucky you haven't lost your badge, but I can't afford to have you on the field like this. You go home."

Sirius sighed heavily.

"Oh, and you might want to start thinking about how you're going to explain this to Hermione," Harry said, watching his godfather blanch at the realisation. "And remember, she doesn't know anything about the package. As far as anyone is concerned, you lost the plot and attacked Baric after weeks of hearing about him harassing your friend. Play up the head injury if you must."

He turned away from Sirius then, and Sirius knew he was dismissed.

"He did what?" shrieked Hermione and Sirius, ensconced in the library, winced. He could hear Remus, Harry and Tonks all trying to placate the witch, but he could tell by the sound of her footsteps that she was pissed. "Where is he?" she demanded.

He put down the Daily Prophet afternoon edition. There, in a rather large article on the second page – somehow he didn't think Hermione would be placated by it at least not making front page news – the incident of the morning was in black and white for all to read about.

Ministry workers and visitors watched in horror this morning as the recently badged Auror Black – who may be better known as the formerly wrongly accused convict, Sirius Black – accosted another Ministry worker who was entering the building.

"He came out of nowhere," said a source, who preferred to remain anonymous. "Just leapt onto the young man and started beating him."

"Brute," commented Mrs. Hilda Joleskin, who was visiting the Ministry that morning to apply for her senior citizen allowance. "Not once in my hundred and twelve years have I seen a wizard forget his wand like that. Behaving like a crazed muggle!"

Our sources say that Mr. Black attacked Mr. Baric, an Unspeakable and former lover to Ms. Hermione Granger, on behalf of Granger. It is rumoured that after the bar attack last month, in which it is alleged Mr. Baric verbally and physically attacked Ms. Granger, her co-worker continued to harass Ms. Granger in the workplace. What the exact nature is of the incident that prompted Mr. Black to attempt retribution now, we are unaware of. A source mentioned that Mr. Black, as recently as yesterday, was injured in an Auror bust, where he obtained a head injury.

Mr. Baric has declined to comment, but sources reveal that the beaten wizard has chosen not to press charges against Black. This reporter wonders if this is truly a sign of Mr. Baric's guilt in the matter on which Black called him out, or if he has been threatened into silence. It is a sad day when our own Department of Magical Law Enforcement can't be trusted.

The library door opened with a push and Hermione stormed in. Her neck and face were red and in any other situation Sirius would be taking a moment to admire just how beautiful she looked. This time, he was just bracing himself for what was coming.

"I can't believe you!" she yelled. "Why the hell did you do that?"

"I'm sorry-"

"No, you can't I'm sorry yourself out of this! You punched another wizard, Sirius. An unarmed, innocent wizard."

Sirius was tempted to argue Baric's 'innocence', but wisely bit his tongue.

"And in front of everyone? In the Ministry? Where we both work? What the hell were you thinking?"

And there it was, the question.

"He was harassing you," said Sirius. Did she really think he'd just peeled off spontaneously to do what he had? Clearly so. Clearly it was what was expected of him, and could he blame her?

She jabbed a finger at him. "I told you I could handle it. I told you to let me handle it. Now you've had your retribution, Sirius, was it worth it?"

It didn't matter to him whether that creep Baric was involved with the dagger or not. He'd been out of line to begin with and Sirius couldn't say he wasn't somewhat satisfied that the little toad would be staying far away from Hermione. Of course, he wasn't going to say any of this to his girlfriend. No, he was going to play stupid and sorry and beg, primarily because he had actually caused her pain the form of that awful article in the Prophet. He'd embarrassed himself and Harry, making a spectacle like he had. But after learning that her life was in danger, it was imperative that he remained close to her if there was a chance in hell he could keep her safe.

"Hermione, I'm sorry love. Please," begged Sirius.

"I didn't need you to do that, Sirius! You've embarrassed me, you've embarrassed yourself, and Harry is beside himself! You've caused the Aurors ill repute and now you're suspended! Please do tell me how you're going to protect anyone from anything when you can't even be in the field chasing actual perpetrators?!"

The events of the morning hit him and the weight of everyone's disappointment and disregard settled onto his shoulder. Hermione's, now that she was here and expressing it so clearly, was the heaviest of all after Harry's. As though he hadn't embarrassed himself enough, he felt wetness on his cheeks. Fuck!

Hermione's voice faltered, and she found herself sitting tentatively beside her boyfriend. He had dipped his head into his hands and was sobbing in that eerily silent way of his. She was furious; spitting mad, actually, and horribly embarrassed, for herself and the inevitable publicity, as well as for Sirius and for Harry, whose professionalism would be in question, all because he was reckless and couldn't leave well enough alone. She was also mad that he had ignored her need to take care of the situation herself, in her way.

Seeing his genuine misery though, had taken the edge off her anger. Sirius was not a crier, not the type to manipulate with feigned emotion. She could tell he was embarrassed by the angle of his body towards the fire, away from her. His hair was hanging like a curtain, blocking his face. Her heart ached and she pulled him into her arms, relieved when he came willingly.

"I'm really sorry love. It was stupid and short-sighted and typical of me," he mumbled. She frowned.

"This can't happen again," she said softly. "You need to trust me to take care of myself. And you need to learn to control that anger." He nodded against her shoulder, feeling guilty immediately that he was now keeping the news of dagger from her. He was torn between telling her, and following Harry's orders. Remembering Harry's insistence, how disappointed his godson had looked, he couldn't do it. He would do what Harry had said; he would stay close to Hermione, be there for her, watch out for her. It was the least he could do, especially since he was on suspension and desk duty. This way, he would be useful.

"Are you alright?" he asked, pulling away to look at her anxiously.

"Yes," she said, shooting a look at the newspaper behind him. "It's not like this is first time I've had rubbish printed about me and my friends."

He remained silent on that, knowing that not much of what had been written this time at least, was rubbish.

She was looking directly into his eyes and he was blown away by the depth of hers. "I'm still angry, Sirius."

He nodded, contrite. "You take all the time you need."

"What about what I want?" she asked playfully, lightening the atmosphere, before pulling his face down to hers. The kiss was soft, light, and Sirius felt like her fingers were touching him gently all over. Why did she have this effect on him?

"Mate." Remus heard his best friend's voice as he was heading up the stairs to bed. It was rather late and the werewolf had just come home from a long day marking essays at the school. "Um, do you mind – could you – I need to talk," said Sirius. He was sitting in the kitchen, illuminated only by the dim light of the fire. Remus wasn't surprised when he saw the Firewhiskey bottle in his friend's hands, but just the fact that Sirius had approached him to talk was progress.

He settled onto another chair, letting his own easy actions coax his friend to speak. Sirius took a few sips of his drink.

"I'm terrified that I'll lose her, that I won't be able to protect her or keep my promises to her. Am I just bollocks at relationships? And I'm an Auror now, things are getting dicey with the resurgence? What if I die? It just feels like there are so many ways I could hurt her and I don't have a bloody clue what to do to stop that from happening." He broke off.

Remus cleared his throat.

"Pads, I know you said you never want to hear any details about me and and your cousin, but there's something I need you to know." Sirius had gone still, listening, and Remus took that as his assent.

"When I fell for Dora it was the best and the worst time of my life. I was unemployable, covered in scars and a half-breed. I had nothing to offer a beautiful young woman with her life all before her. And yet she wanted me as I was, and I was ashamed to say, I was too weak to say no. Then the war was fully upon us, and Dora was pregnant. Gods I hated myself," he said bitterly, remembering.

"Then in the final battle, when we lost sight of one another for hours and she nearly got killed… heartache, even the anticipation of it… there are no words for the terror and regret I felt those long hours without her, not knowing if my wife, the mother of my son, was alive or not. Feeling responsible. It was stupid, Pads. Because she made her choices much as I did. Took me a long time to get over that. Thank Merlin we came out of it stronger. Now, when I look at my wife, my son, the life I have now – I can't bring myself to be sad that we both took that risk together. You need to decide what you want, and let Hermione make that decision for herself too." He looked quickly to make sure Pads hadn't passed out on him, but his friend looked sober as ever.

"The thing is, Pads, there's no guarantee. Loving someone, letting them love you, it's all risk. As long as I've known you, you've never shied away from taking risks, and yes, sometimes they get you in trouble. But I've also seen you risk yourself for others. Maybe it's time to decide if a happy life is worth the risk of a few growing pains along the way." He looked meaningfully at his friend.

"Fuck Moony, they should've given you Dumbledore's hat", Sirius laughed, his throat tight. Remus smiled at him and approached, throwing an arm around his friend in a warm hug. Sirius patted Remus on the back a little awkwardly.

The last thing Remus thought before he tumbled into bed beside the love of his life was that for the first time in a long time, he felt there was a chance for Pads to have the life he deserved. He only hoped his friend would take the risk.

A/N: Oh Sirius.