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 in later chapters.

A/N: Hey all, sorry for the long silence. I've been busy preparing for job interviews so writing this has had to take a back seat. I'm crossing so many parts of my body I've twisted myself into a pretzel. I've going through an interview process at the moment that's really demanding, and I really want this job! So sorry guys, I can't promise daily updates but there will be regular ones.

A couple of fun chapters up next! Enjoy, and please, please review.

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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 Fourteen: Birthday Surprise?

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Sirius thrived on action. Next to making amends for his absence in wartime, it was one of the main reasons he'd decided to become an Auror. He could have been sitting on an island in the Mediterranean sipping cocktails. He could be on a whiskey tasting tour around the world. Instead, he'd become an Auror for the British Ministry's Department of Magical Law Enforcement and was currently sitting at his desk in a quiet office with a stack of paperwork in front of him. He was only midway through his desk-bound week and Sirius already felt like he might be going a bit mad – and that was saying something for someone who'd spent twelve years behind bars.

He was however, working on a 'mission' of his own. If he wasn't going to be in the field actually finding and arresting perps, or included in the case that affected Hermione, then he was going to get as bloody well close as possible. If he was going to protect Hermione – and there was no question he would, whether or not he wore a badge while doing it – then he needed some insight. Hermione had mentioned that morning that she was seeing Harry for lunch. It was the perfect time, with the office as empty as it could be, to get into Harry's office and find the file on Greyback.

So when lunch-time arrived and the office emptied, Sirius watched surreptitiously as his black-haired godson left with the crowd. Putting his quill down, he stood up stretching, taking the moment to flit his eyes about the office and confirm that it was safe to proceed. Sirius snuck over to Harry's private office and did a quick once-over with his wand at the door, for any wards or alarms Harry may have used. Nothing. He quietly opened the door, slipping in and closing it behind him.

Harry's desk, of course, was covered in work organised in a fashion only Harry himself could decipher. At least Sirius knew that the file would be on his desk as it was a current case, so that's where he'd start looking. Gingerly moving the notes around, he almost immediately found the file, primarily because it was one of the most ludicrously thick case files he'd ever seen.

It was full of notes written by various hands over the years, pictures and testimonies from victims and victim's families as well as information that had been pulled from other Death Eaters in interrogations. Sirius flipped through the file with his thumb, stopping when he reached the date period that Hermione's case would be filed under. He found the incident report fairly quickly, and his breath immediately quickened with sympathy and anger. Hermione had described things to him, but seeing the photographs of the crime scene and reading the Auror report on how she had found her parents and severity of the injuries involved, was heartbreakingly sickening.

Sirius wasn't in the habit of referring to werewolves as monsters. Growing up with one as a best mate had cemented that. For the first time though, as he went through the file, he understood how appropriate the slur was for Fenrir Greyback. Only a monster could take such pure pleasure in needless violence and causing pain, mental and physical. The photographs were stomach-turning and reports went on for pages. This was the monster that had enjoyed seeing Hermione tortured, had intended to cause her more pain and suffering, and probably death. This was the monster that had killed her parents and had now sent her a death threat. This was also the monster that was responsible for the pain and suffering that Moony had endured since he was just a little boy.

He looked at the time and realised he'd been looking through the file for twenty minutes and still hadn't found any notes on the current investigation. He rifled through the papers on the desk, but nothing looked like what he needed, so he replaced the folder and left the room, just before lunch ended and Aurors started to trickle in.

Back at his desk, quill in hand, Sirius looked up when Harry entered the office. His godson looked directly over at him with a small smirk. "Alright Sirius?" he said, and Sirius knew Harry had pre-empted his snooping. Dammit. Harry knew him too well.

At least his snooping hadn't been entirely unfruitful; now Sirius knew exactly what kind of a person they were dealing with. And it didn't make him feel any better.

Hermione stepped through the Floo into Grimmauld, dusting the ash off her work-clothes. She'd been busy that day, apart from her focus, there was also general Unspeakable research to be done. Tonight was Harry's birthday party over at his house, and she was glad that Sirius had volunteered to make the few dishes they needed to take over. Remus was good for salads, but when it came to the two women in the house, both Hermione and Tonks were hopeless, though the latter did try. To the misfortune of everyone else.

"Hello love." She looked up to see Sirius holding out a glass of red wine to her and she moaned, taking it while he laughed at her reaction. "Long day then?"

"Yes," she said, rolling her shoulders. "And now I've got to go find something to wear to this birthday party. How are we doing for time?"

"We are just fine for time," he said, placing a hand on her lower back and encouraging her towards the kitchen. "In fact, enough time for you to come have that glass of wine with me outside."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What's the occasion?"

"No occasion, it's just warm weather and I thought it would be nice for us." He entwined their fingers and tugged her out the kitchen door into the back yard. There on the battered old picnic table was another glass of wine.

"What about Remus and Tonks?" asked Hermione, looking back at the house. Though their friends knew they were together, the two of them had been keeping things as normal as possible, which did not include glasses of wine in the garden at sunset.

"Don't worry about them," said Sirius. "They've gone to drop Teds off at Molly and Arthurs, and you know nobody can visit the Burrow without at least a cup of tea. Now straddle the bench."

"Er, what?" Her eyes widened.

"Nothing like that," he tutted. "Such a dirty little girl." At his words Hermione choked slightly on her wine. Sirius raised his eyebrows in surprise, which quickly transformed into mischievousness. Oh gods, she thought, doing as he said as quickly as possible to get through the moment. She felt him do the same behind her, and then his hands were on her shoulders, massaging and pressing and holy mother of Circe and Godric's tartan pants, it felt so good.

"Tartan pants?" he said behind her, amused. She hadn't realised she'd spoken out loud.

"Every colour, pattern and texture under the sun," she moaned. "Just don't stop." After a while, when she was as limp as a wet noodle, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him so she was cradled by his body. His lips met the skin between her neck and shoulder, nipping and kissing to the response of her sighs. A few minutes of this heavenly attention from his mouth and she was already trembling. She pulled away reluctantly, turning to kiss him on the mouth before smiling apologetically and reaching for her wine.

He smiled back, understanding, and the two of them sipped in comfortable silence as the sky darkened.

"Hey, while I remember," she said, "won't you please open your grandfather's book to that shield spell we played with last time? I'd really like to see the preliminary notes on it. I've never heard of a shield that also repels, and with that amount of force. Would be nice to see the thinking that led to it. I tried last night but it wouldn't even budge a bloody page," she said incredulously, not without a little admiration for the magic.

"Alright love, I'll do that," said Sirius, running his hands up and down her arms when he saw her shiver. The last rays of the sun were quickly disappearing and with it, the air had grown much cooler.

"I should probably get moving, I want to change my clothes," said Hermione. As gracefully as she could, she got up and stepped over the bench. She stretched like a cat. "That was lovely, thank you," she said, turning to hug him, enjoying the warmth and comfort of his solid chest against her cheek. "You always smell so good," she said, and pressed her nose to the middle of his chest, sniffing. He made a sound and gently pulled her away. Her eyes gleamed in response. "Have I found a ticklish spot Mr. Black?"

"Not ticklish, Ms. Granger," he said, smiling, but his eyes were dark with implication and her mind immediately travelled back to the day before, suffusing her with heat.

"Are you ever going to stop teasing me?" she asked, and he laughed out loud.

"Unfortunately not," he said, feigning helplessness. "Sold as is, love."

"Whatever have I gotten myself into?" she mused out loud, but she was grinning back at him as they entered the house.

After the war, it was mostly the younger generation in their motley extended 'family' that spent more time together. It was just a natural development of the relationships that had developed during the war and afterwards. This group included Remus and Tonks, Ginny and Harry, Ron and Eva, and George and Hermione. Sirius had naturally slotted in when he'd come back, and every now again Luna or Neville if they were around.

The Potter's house was a modest size in a well-to-do part of London that was just far enough away from the hustle and bustle of the city, but not as far out in the sticks as the Burrow.

"Dad and Mum send their birthday wishes, Mum says she'll see you and everyone else on Sunday for a 'second' celebration, and to tell you that they've got all the kids settled down for a nice sleep-over," George relayed dutifully. "Now that I've fulfilled my obligations as a part-time owl, where's the cake?"

Ginny, one arm cradling her belly protectively, smacked her brother in the arm. "Shut up George, and go make yourself useful." George clutched his arm dramatically. "Sheesh, only sister of mine. Aren't I a guest in your home?" Ginny laughed in his face, and then continued laughing all the way out of the room, past Harry, who gave her a puzzled look as he entered the kitchen.

"First I'm an owl, now I'm a house-elf," grumbled George good-humouredly, rummaging in his pocket. "Ah Harry! Happy birthday mate!" He handed a small package to his sister's husband. Harry regarded the object with uneasy curiousity. "Uh, thanks George, I'll open it later."

The Floo went again and in trooped Remus, Tonks, Hermione and Sirius, each bearing a dish of food. "Sirius cooked most of it," said Hermione, putting the potato salad down and throwing her arms around Harry's chest in a hug before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Happy birthday Harry!" Remus and Tonks followed, and then it was Sirius' turn to wish his godson.

"Happy birthday mate," he said, reaching out a hand to shake. Harry looked at the hand, then at Sirius.

"Don't be ridiculous," he said, pulling his godfather into a bone-crushing hug with lots of back thumping. Sirius looked very pleased after that, and shared a private smile with Hermione who was glad to see that despite their current issues, the two could still be there for one another.

Finally Ron and Eva arrived, and soon after them, Luna, the latter who, after greeting everyone and wishing Harry a happy birthday, strolled right over to George and slipped her arm around his waist, reaching up to kiss him on the mouth. Hermione raised her eyebrow, sharing a look with Sirius. Looks like they weren't the only couple announcing themselves this evening, and clearly George and Luna had decided to do it by just being 'them' around everyone. Hermione thought somehow that it wouldn't work as well for her and Sirius as it did for the other new couple.

With all the food on the table and everyone taking their place, first Harry opened his birthday presents. His cheeks were slightly red. Even after all these years Harry still felt strange about having so much given to him, and being the center of attention as well. He opened Ginny's gift first, a beautiful muggle watch that he immediately put on, grinning at his wife. After that, just to get it out of the way, he opened George's gift. It was a small box, and when he opened it there was a tiny bottle nestled in silk. He was surprised – it didn't look like a Whizz. He looked up at George.

"Explanation's under the packing mate, but eh…" he looked between Ginny and Harry. "But you might want to wait until a bit later," he said with a wink. Harry blushed bright red and beside him, Ginny went pale with horror at the idea of receiving anything related to sex from her brother.

Luna's gift was strange, of course, a plush toy that turned out to be a Nargle, according to her. "Obviously not life-sized," she said. "Or it'd be really hard to see." Everyone nodded politely as she mentioned the new range of plush toys that was going to be sold in the Weasley's store. They consisted of a number of yet unseen magical creatures, or as Hermione thought privately, figments of Luna's imagination.

After that, Harry opened his gift, a joint one from Ron, Eva, Remus and Tonks. It was an enormous hamper of sweets and treats that made Harry's eyes go as big as they did the first time he saw the sweet cart on the train to Hogwarts. "I'm going to have to hide these from the kids," he said, thanking his friends.

"Forget the kids!" said George. "Ginny's gotten into it already!"

"I'm pregnant!" said Ginny, caught with her mouth stuffed with Jelly Slugs.

"That's alright," said Harry, leaning over to kiss his wife on the hamster-like cheek. "Anything that's mine is yours, love."

There was a well-humoured chorus of 'yucks!' and 'awws'.

The last gifts Harry opened were Hermiones, and then Sirius. He was ridiculously pleased about the shoes and the smart coat, a reminder that once all he'd had to wear were oversized hand-me-downs.

Everyone tucked into dinner eagerly, raving over this dish and that, and trying to politely and stealthily Evanesco whatever it was that Tonks had made.

After they'd polished off a chocolate cake that Eva had baked, sang Happy Birthday to Harry, whose eyes sparkled in the candlelight, they all retired to the living room to sink down into cushy couches while hot drinks and alcohol was passed around while news and stories were told. There was a pleasant exchange of conversation between all of them, the benefit of a small party.

Hermione and Sirius had managed to get a couch to themselves, which was good because this way they could see everyone else when they broke the news. Hermione's heart was thumping in her chest, and her hand on the couch between them crept closer to Sirius'. Just when it seemed one of them was about to say something, Ginny piped up.

"So what's the deal with the two of you?" she asked. "You haven't bickered or flirted once tonight. You sick or something?" This last she directed at Sirius.

"Oh", came a dreamy voice from the corner, where Luna was perched on George's lap, "I imagine that's because they've dealt with the sexual tension." All eyes turned to the couple while there was a silence, which Luna was only too happy to fill. "It's a really interesting mating phenomenon that the-"

"Oh it's about bloody time!" Ginny thumped down her mug with an alarming bang and turned to Harry with her palm out. "You owe me five galleons, husband." George crowed and Tonks jostled Remus, the two of them with knowing smirks. Eva and Harry were smiling, the latter happy to lose this particular bet, but also surprised that Sirius and Hermione had actually gotten together. Ron was the only one who looked absolutely clueless.

"Who's done what with sexual whatsit?" he asked. Everybody ignored him. Meanwhile, Hermione's cheeks had gone tellingly pink, whereas Sirius just looked confused.

"Mate, you're a bit thick for an Auror," said George to Sirius as he passed a fistful of coins to his sister." He shook his head sadly. "And Hermione. I'm disappointed with you, really. The brightest witch of her time and all that."

When the two of them continued to stare at George, flabbergasted, he sighed. "Did you two really think you weren't completely obvious? The pool for you two admitting there's something between you has been running since March, my friends, although I'm disappointed you didn't hold out a little longer. Lost me a pretty penny, you have." Ginny was smugly dropping galleons into her purse. Ron still looked completely confused.

"Well," said Sirius, grinning. "I guess there's no need to make announcements then, is there?" He pulled Hermione so that she was squashed into his side, and turned his face to plant a kiss on her hair.

"Oh my," Ginny squeaked, fanning her eyes. Harry wordless passed her a serviette without even looking her way. His wife tended to be rather emotional when pregnant.

"Wait," said Hermione, horror dawning. "Does everyone know?"

"Does everyone know what?" said Ron exasperatedly.

"Don't think so," said George. "The pool's only been between people in this room now. You're going to have to find a way to break it to Mum for sure. She goes a bit wonky when it comes to her children doing the mummy-daddy thing," he said.

"Ew!" said Ginny at the expression.

"Well she lost the plot when she found out that Bill lost his virginity at Hogwarts, and I bet if you asked her she'd say everyone else is still as pure as the driven snow too, even that one over there with third Potter junior in her belly," said George, pointing. Ginny wrinkled her nose.

"I saw the way you looked at each other when you thought the other wasn't looking, that night at the pub," offered Luna.

"And I saw you two sharing a nice snog in a muggle shop. Did you think you were the only wizarding folk who like shopping on the high street?" scoffed George.

"Oh please," said Ginny. "You could've cut the sexual tension with a knife."

"THEY'RE DOING WHAT?" Apparently Ron had finally caught up, having somehow been left out of the pool.

"Ronald!" hissed Eva.

Their freckled friend looked extremely perturbed. "It's not – there's no – look, there's no problem, well okay it is a bit weird –" Harry gave him a withering look. "-what I mean – what I'm saying is, why didn't anyone tell me?" he finished, bewildered.

The entire table broke out in laughter, Hermione and Sirius included.

"Well in that case, I think we'd both appreciate it if you'd all keep this to yourselves for a while?" asked Hermione. "It's just new, and with everything that's going on, it would be nice to have a bit of privacy."

"I bet," said George under his breath.

Hermione glared at him before addressing everyone again. "I guess we wanted to tell you guys because you're the closest to us and we were getting tired of hiding it every time you were around."

"And clearly we've been sneaking around like teenagers while the lot of you've been having a laugh," added Sirius, good-naturedly. "But yeah, if you could just keep it between the people in this room, that would be good of you."

"So I'm interested, when exactly did you guys get together?" asked Ginny innocently, back to sipping her hot chocolate. Hermione and Sirius looked at each other, debating what to say, if anything, but Remus had no such reservations.

"I can answer that one," he said, smirking.

Sirius wasn't particularly perturbed by it, but he saw Hermione cover her red face with both hands. "C'mon mate, nobody really wants to know-" His plea fell on deaf ears as Remus and Tonks described the horrifying evening they'd arrived home only to find the two of them 'mauling' one another on the couch. They soon had everyone in hysterics, though Hermione blushed throughout. Sirius, of course, merely looked smug.

"Of course I then had 'the talk' with Sirius, Harry, so don't worry."

"But they're always arguing," said Ron, who was still trying to wrap his head around the whole thing.

"Oh and that's not familiar?" snorted Harry, and both Hermione and Ron laughed, the latter conceding. Sirius bit his tongue; both he and Hermione were adults with pasts, but he wanted to be reminded of her relationship with the redhead about as much as she'd care to about Sirius' own partners. But then Hermione, laughing and bright beside him caught his eye, and warmth suffused through him when she tucked her arm under his, holding it close.

The night didn't last long after that, and a couple of games of Wizarding Chess – at which Ron played out his revenge on everyone else – since Ginny was tired. Harry looked happily tipsy as he said goodnight to all his friends.

Back at Grimmauld, after the Lupins had said their own goodnights and headed upstairs, Hermione and Sirius made their way to their floor in comfortable silence, their fingers just brushing as they walked side by side. He said goodnight to her at her bedroom door before heading to his own bed. A few minutes after he'd undressed down to boxers and t-shirt, climbed into bed and turned the lights out, his bedroom door opened quietly and she slipped in, closing it behind her.

He watched her with sleepy eyes as she approached the bed, illuminated only by the moonlight coming through the window. She padded quietly over and he shifted to give her space as she lifted the covers and climbed in with a tired sigh. He pulled her to him, spooning her, feeling the slow and steady rise and fall of her body as she drifted into sleep. He gently stroked the inside of her arm, where he knew she wore a glamour, feeling a strong sense of protectiveness over her.

He joined her in slumber not long after, falling asleep breathing in the coconut scent of her silky curls. He dreamed about a seaside holiday he'd be on when he was a child.

Sneak Preview: Chapter Fifteen:

"You excited about having a girl?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, yeah I guess I am," said Harry, smiling at the glass still in his hand. "It's just a bit nerve wracking, not just cause we've already got the boys, but I'm not really sure what to do with a girl."

"Tea parties, most likely, but we've been known to enjoy the odd book or two," came a dry voice from the doorway.

A/N: Naww.