She had absolutely no idea how to respond to Harry's question. At least not an answer that didn't involve heavy laughter - like riotous cackling. Ginny must have put him up to it. There was no way Harry Potter had come up with such an idea on his own. This man was her best friend, but blissfully oblivious to anything else.

Her urge to laugh was quickly stamped out with his next statement.

"Really Hermione, I think you need to be honest with us. At least with Sirius, because, as much as it weirds me out to say it, I think this could really hurt him."

"Excuse me?"

Harry took a long sip from his cola straw, never breaking eye contact with her. The combination of his question, his follow up comment, and his gaze caused her to feel a heavy burn beginning in her chest. She felt the blush crawling up her ears as the sounds of the fast-food joint began to swim.

"Listen, Ginny seems to think you're seeing someone. I think she's batty. But," he said calmly, "I also think we haven't talked very much about you since you broke it off with Ron. So as far as I know, Ginny could be right. And if she is, it's cool, I just wish you'd trust me enough to tell me because you know I love you like a sister and I just want to be included."

Hermione felt the blush strengthen, as shame rolled in her belly now, too.

She had been closing off. From the Potters, from Harry especially. She didn't do it on purpose, she was still trying to prove to her found family that she was independent and could take care of herself. And she knew that if she did start seeing someone, they'd know about it. She couldn't keep something like that from Lily, anyway.

But she also had no excuse to hide her job.

It had started as pride over her independence. She didn't want to tell the Potters she'd had to find a part-time job because she didn't want their pity or their charity. She knew, rationally, that they saw her as a daughter and their financial help wouldn't truly be considered charity, but it didn't help that she felt it would. After she'd gotten over that, now she was doubly proud and refused for anyone to learn what her part time job was. She thought she may be more mortified by the actual work than the fact that she had to do it in the first place.

She'd worked so hard in the DMLE. She was a full fledged Auror with a primary case. Her partner was the Deputy Head Auror. She'd earned respect. She'd earned it and she'd be damned if a silly little part-time gig would take that hard earned respect away from her.

"Harry," she started. "I - I promise I'm not seeing anyone. And if I was, I'd tell you as soon as I thought it was serious."

She'd reached out across the table and took the hand that had been playing with the pickle he'd picked out of his burger.

"Also, what does Sirius have to do with it, anyway?"

Harry looked for all the world like he was trying to avoid her gaze at this. He took his hand back and picked up his burger, eyeing it studiously before taking a large bite. Suddenly Hermione knew he was hiding something.

"Harry James Potter, what did you mean about Sirius?"

He held up a finger as he savored the bite of burger in his mouth. She kicked his shin under the table.

"Nothing," he whined, mouth full. She leveled him with her best scowl. "Okay, okay. Just something I overheard is all."

"And what did you overhear from who?"

Part of her worried the three idiots had let something about her job slip, or at least the part that Sirius spent all of his free time with her now. He'd made them promise not to say anything about the cafe, but it wouldn't stop someone like Cormac from trying to ruin her reputation by insinuating she was having an affair with Black.

"Nothing, Hermione, just…" Harry slouched into his booth. "It was just something stupid mom said."

That wasn't what she'd expected him to say.

"She and Ginny had said something after you two left the other day and it just was weird. I felt weird about it and I guess I wanted to make sure it wasn't true."

"Make sure what wasn't true?"

"That Sirius was in love with you."

Hermione choked on her drink. Harry looked so small and so disgusted - like a kid who had caught his mother kissing Santa Claus. The idea that Sirius was in love with her was preposterous.

She couldn't help it. She finally broke out into fits of giggles she couldn't control. She laughed so hard she thought she heard herself snort once or twice.

Looking at Harry between calming breaths, she saw him smiling too, looking a little relieved.

"You look like I was about to pack your bags and ship you off to boarding school," Hermione laughed - referencing a film both had watched several times growing up together with Lily as a caretaker.

"Hermione, you'd make the worst step-godmum in the world. You're not even a full year older than me."

Another round of laughter hit the two friends, causing several of the restaurant patrons to pick up their trays and move farther from the laughing duo.

"Harry, Sirius is like twenty years older than us," She said, after she'd calmed herself again. "He's got a trail of women dying to go home with him and he's basically the wizarding equivalent of the most-eligible bachelor. He's not looking at me."

Harry's smile dropped a fraction. "Hermione, do you think he's handsome?"

"Who doesn't," she smiled. "I can admit when someone is good-looking, Harry. Doesn't mean I'm pining after them. You're pretty good looking when you dress you up. So is Malfoy. You don't see me fancying either of you, do you?"

"That's just the thing, though. You're not fancying anyone lately. And you've been so tired and busy all the time. Mum's worried you keep skipping out on Sundays."

Hermione winced. That she was fully aware of. But she'd have Sundays free now - Sirius had made sure of it. He must have known Lily was worried about her.

"Also, Hermione, technically Sirius is only 16 years older than us. Mum says the stasis charms he was under stopped his biological aging."

Hermione snorted again. "Must be why he acts so immaturely, then." Harry snickered.

"Harry. I'm not seeing anyone. And you can feel free to let your mother know. Besides, it would be kind of funny to watch Sirius squirm if your mom thought my romantic life might make him uncomfortable. I'd pay to watch him squirm."

Harry lifted an eyebrow as she stared off into space with a smirk, slowly sipping from her drink. His own smile slipped as he watched her.

She might deny Sirius was in love with her, but Harry recognized that mischievous glint in his best friend's eyes. She wasn't near in love, but was in danger of falling in. She and Sirius were spending entirely too much time together, and Harry worried he wouldn't have enough time to learn how to deal with it.

The walk to the Magic Neep was much muddier than Hermione remembered.

The cobblestones leading up to the little shop were nearly invisible below the grime which three weeks of stormy weather had wrought on Hogsmeade village. Hermione's boots were layered in the stuff with each step up to the stone fence.

Sirius was already inside, speaking to the proprietor, Carla Bagely, hoping to determine if she knew anything about Dennis Creevy's disappearance. Hermione had spent ten minutes speaking with Colin at the Three Broomsticks.

Colin had assured Hermione that he left his brother at the Neep for 20 minutes. When he returned after gathering his purchases at Tomes and Scrolls, Bagely had told him Dennis had left. Instead of panicking, Colin apparated to the brothers' secret meeting spot, but Dennis wasn't there either.

Hermione had asked Colin to take her to the spot, but the man's young son started fussing and he promised to meet her and Sirius at a later date if they still needed it. Hermione wrote down his home phone number, as both were muggleborn and still appreciated the use of muggle artifacts.

Now, she was standing right outside the Magic Neep, trying to charm the mud off of her standard issued brown Auror's boots when the door to the shop opened.

Inside, she heard Carla's giggle and looked up just in time to catch Sirius wink at the woman before saying, "Well, Miss Bagely, if you can remember anything else please feel free to give me a floo call. I've always got time for you."

Hermione rolled her eyes as the silly woman gave another giggle as she waved Sirius out of the shot.

Sirius himself was sporting a wide grin.

"Is that absolutely necessary," Hermione sighed.

"Is what necessary," her partner responded, his grin now aimed at her.

"The flirting."

"I'm not flirting with anyone," he responded, grin falling from his face and greatly resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Then what was that," she asked, gesturing toward the shop.

"What was what, Hermione," at her reproachful look he groaned. "You mean manners?"

"Manners?"

"Yes, manners!"

Hermione harrumphed as she turned on her heel and made her way back down the muddy path.

Releasing another frustrated groan, Sirius caught up to her and opened the gate into Hogsmeade Proper for her to pass through.

"May I ask why common etiquette is so distasteful to you," he asked, voice dripping with sarcasm.

In response, Hermione brushed past him and continued down the village's high street, speeding past the Three Broomsticks.

"Kitten," Sirius called after her. He locked the gate again and sped up to catch up to her but lost his balance tripping over a stray pig.

The animal squealed, catching Hermione's attention. Upon turning back to see the commotion behind her, she noticed Sirius falling backwards into the mud and a small pink pot-bellied piglet running off in the other direction.

From behind the quidditch supply store, a young boy came running, calling for "Carlo."

The boy looked down at Sirius and stopped, reaching a hand out to help the man up.

"'M so so sorry sir," the boy shouted, not looking at Sirius but craving his neck to see where the pig ran off to. "I didn't mean to let him go. But he runs so fast!"

Now standing, Sirius shook his head and released the boy's hand.

"No problem here, son. Go catch that bugger before it causes anyone else any damage."

The boy barely nodded his thanks to Sirius before he took off running after the animal.

Hermione hadn't moved since turning to witness the fiasco. Instead she stood there waiting as Sirius wordlessly cleaned the mud off his robes and joined her.

"As I was saying," he said, as though the last five minutes hadn't just happened. "I'm merely being nice to a witness. Making them feel comfortable so they feel they can reach out if they remember anything."

Hermione snorted. "It's distracting, Sirius."

"Kitten," his voice was low, nearly purring as a corner of his mouth twitched upward. She refused to look at his eyes, already imagining they were alight with amusement.

"Do you find it distracting when I flirt?"

There. She had him.

"So you admit you were flirting," she countered, her own grin forming as his own slowly faded.

"What," he sputtered, blinking. "No. No, I was just being nice to her, Hermione."

Hermione's triumphant smile had completely overtaken her face, and Sirius felt as though she had just punched him in the gut. Hard. But very nicely, too, because it also felt like fireworks - magical fireworks.

Her eyes were alight with mischief similar to the look Lily often gave him before she pulled a fast one on him. Her hair was damp, and he could see a collection of the humid air in the form of drops falling off a single curl near her ear. And her grin was absolutely shit-eating.

Unable to let her pull one over on him, he stepped up closer to her, invading any space she may have believed to be her own. He leant down, placing his lips as near to her ear as he could without touching her - which was harder than he thought it would be as he noticed how creamy the skin at her neck really was.

"I meant," he said lowly, as low as he could make his voice go without resorting to a whisper, "do you find it distracting when I flirt with you?"

If he hadn't been as close as he was, he wouldn't have noticed the sharp inhale she took, and he smiled with pride as he took a step back and continued down the high street.

There was a woman across the way, obviously pretending to sweep her shop's front step as we watched Hermione recover from the moment.

Hermione cleared her throat, threw a fake smile in the woman's direction and made to follow after the other Auror.

The rest of the walk toward the apparition point was silent, which was only bad because it reminded her of her lunch with Harry the day before.

That Sirius is in love with you.

She wanted to snort with laughter, but part of her felt a sinking feeling.

He wasn't. That moment, or whatever it had been had only happened as a result of verbal sparring. Sirius was a shameless flirt and she had called him out on it, so he needed the upper hand.

He wasn't flirting with her to flirt with her in the way a normal man would. And it most definitely didn't bother her.

At all.

When they arrived in their office, Hermione hung up her cloak and sat down. She noticed, however, that Sirius hadn't taken his off and instead cast a drying charm and sat on his desk.

Quickly, Hermione shared what she had learned from Colin as the marker on the other end of the room quickly updated information on their whiteboard.

Sirius agreed that they should check out the Creevy brothers' secret meeting spot whenever Colin had a free and childless afternoon.

Sirius then recounted his conversation with Carla Bagely who had shared Dennis's purchases that evening. She said he'd purchased two sets of fluxweed seeds and a couple vials of horklump juice - ingredients typically used for an anti-nausea potion.

As Mrs. Creevy was pregnant, Hermione determined the ingredients made sense.

The marker crossed Bagely off the list.

"Did she mention anything else, like seeing or hearing anything out of the ordinary when he left?"

"Honestly, she seemed too distracted to really give me much on that front," he replied, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Yes. As I said. Distracted by your manners."

"Listen, the bint was coming on to me the whole time, Kitten. It's not my fault she couldn't tell I was just being professional."

"Oh, come on," Hermione groaned. "You winked at her."

Sirius sunk down to his roller seat. "I didn't mean to," he grumbled.

"You're unbelievable."

Sirius looked up at the clock and summoned his orange-brown briefcase.

"We should get going," he said, carefully piling their parchment into the raggedy old case.

Hermione sighed and summoned her cloak.

What Hermione hadn't expected to see when she entered Maid Latte that evening was Seamus, Dean, and Cormac sitting at their usual table, undisguised.

The three were practicing Speed with a deck of cards they had brought on their own.

"Miss Mia," Seamus called when he saw her. He wiggled his eyebrows at her and continued, "we've been practicing!"

Quite suddenly, there was an ungodly screeching of a chair being pushed back with force and speed. Turning only her head, she saw Sirius make his way over to the idiots' table. To her, and the idiots' surprise, he sat down on the fourth chair at the round table.

"Alright. Time to explain. What's this about the card game?" Seamus and Dean shared a grin and began speaking over each other trying to explain the objective of beating a Maid at cards and getting to take a photo with her.

Cormac, however, just scowled.

"Black, you told us not to talk to you," he snarled. Sirius raised a single eyebrow and sighed.

"We'll the three of you were supposed to not speak to this particular maid, either, but you couldn't manage that."

The blonde man crossed his arms and stared out the window, reminding Hermione of a petulant child throwing a silent tantrum.

"So it's like Exploding Snap," Sirius asked Dean. Dean nodded eagerly.

"Except it's nothing like Exploding Snap," Seamus said quickly explaining the rules. "And Miss Mia is entirely too good."

"Why do you want my picture, anyway," Hermione asked them. Dean and Seamus, again, shared a grin.

"Because you're adorable," Seamus said, ducking before Sirius could wallop the back of his head.

"It started as a way for us to confront you and ask if it really was you, but now, since we know, it's just for us," explained Dean.

Hermione was uncomfortable with the idea of a photo of her in this outfit getting out into the world and was about to say so when Seamus cut in.

"We wouldn't show anyone, we swear. Now it's just about finally being able to beat you at something. Godric knows we never managed it at school."

"Speak for yourself," Cormac snorted from his place staring out the window. "I managed one more OWL than Granger."

Hermione smirked at Dean, who countered, "only because she refused to take the Divination exam."

Losing interest in the argument, Hermione looked back at Sirius who was looking at her in contemplation.

Just as she was about to ask what was on his mind, he gave her a devilish smirk and waved Violet down.

Hermione's stomach sank, figuring out too late exactly what it was he meant to do.

Violet had only managed to reach the table when he announced, "Miss Violet, I would love to challenge Miss Mia to a game of speed."

The other three men silenced their bickering and stared at their supervisor with mixed looks of horror and admiration. Hermione was murderous. Violet was ecstatic.

The lead Maid led the two over to the card table, already set up for the game using a personalized deck with photos of each employed Maid.

Hermione heard Sirius chuckle upon seeing the deck, which always made her cringe. Slowly, Luna, Lucy and Rose joined them around the table to wish Sirius luck in his game and cheer "the Master" on.

Hermione leveled him with a threatening stare as Violet explained the rules and objective of the game, warning him that the point was to complete his deck as quickly as possible, or at least before Miss Mia completed her own. He smirked over at Hermione without breaking eye contact.

Remembering that Sirius had never before played Speed, Hermione relaxed by a fraction. At least the fee he'd pay for playing would go toward her tips tonight. He didn't know that part.

"On your marks," Violet chanted, "get set, go!" And Hermione began throwing cards down on the table, trying to block out chants of "Yes, go, Master! You've got this! You're so fast, Master Sirius!"

However, when Hermione looked back up, Sirius was sitting back comfortably in his chair, looking quite smug as the other Maids behind him continued to cheer and congratulate him on his win.

Because he'd won. Hermione looked behind him to see the other three Aurors looking on in horror at how simply Sirius had beaten Miss Mia, who was notorious for never losing a game of speed.

Before she knew it, she was being pulled to the photo wall, and being positioned by Luna, before the muggle Polaroid camera. Violet shoved Sirius in beside her.

"Go on, give us a big smile," called out Rose from behind the camera.

"Give her a big hug," Violet interjected.

Sirius, who was standing only slightly behind Hermione, raised his arms up to wrap around her waist. Before she could complain, Rose yelled out "Say Cheese!"

She threw on a quick smile and as the flash went off, she felt a soft pressure on the crown of her head.

All around her she heard "awwwws," as Rose handed Sirius the slowly developing photograph, which he took and placed in his jacket pocket.

"Miss Mia," called Dean, who stood carefully. "I'd like to challenge you, too."

Violet grinned as she set the table up again. Shaking her head, Hermione prepared herself for a long night.

As the girls closed up shop later, Sirius packed up his belongings and waited for Hermione out in the alley.

He waited just outside the door, smoking a cigarette and said a quick goodbye to each Maid leaving at the end of the shift.

Even Violet left before Hermione finally came out wearing a heavy purple hoodie.

Her hands were in her large front pocket, her hair thrown into a high ponytail. She stood there silently as he finished his cigarette.

"Why are you still here?"

"I told you. I'm not leaving you in this dodgy alley alone."

She nodded, not looking at him. However, she couldn't help but crack a smile at him.

"Beating those guys at cards is so much fun," she said. He chuckled too.

"I'll admit, I did enjoy watching you hand their asses to them." He tossed the cigarette butt to the pavement, stomping out the embers.

"You won't show anyone the picture will you?"

She was worrying her lip as they walked slowly toward the alley opening. He hated that she looked adorable.

As he waited for her, he kept thinking about their whole day. She'd looked absolutely stunning in the middle of Hogsmeade, fuming with her self-righteous anger. He couldn't help trying to make her fume even more.

On any other day with any other woman, he wouldn't have dared try that stunt. Nor was he sure he would have enjoyed it quite that much.

What really bothered him was how much he'd enjoyed the scent of her: the hint of lavender and rosemary that mingled in with what was just her sent a jolt through him.

He'd first smelled it several days ago, in this exact alleyway, and he'd spent the next 60 hours hoping to catch another whiff of it.

And it made him feel incredibly uncomfortable; like, if James ever found out Sirius was trying to sniff Hermione, he'd tear him limb from limb for being a perverted old man.

He could just imagine Lily, pulling Hermione behind her protective motherly stance as she told him he was no longer welcome in their home.

And as much as the thought of losing James and Lily scared him, he couldn't bring himself to leave Hermione alone.

If he reminded himself of his sole purpose in spending so much time with her, which was to protect her and make sure she took care of herself, and told himself it definitely wasn't to try to catch a whiff of her heavenly smell, maybe, just maybe, he could stay around her.

Maybe, if she never found out what was going on in his brain, she'd let him stay.

There was just something about the smell. And the way her eyes were shining right now, too.

"No Kitten. I won't show the picture to anyone."

"Sirius, please?"

"Don't you believe me?"

Her expression softened.

"I trust you."

Again, she refused to get on the motorcycle. Again, he revved the engine and disillusioned himself, not moving until he saw the witch reach the apparition point, unharmed, and apparated away.

And again, he took to the sky, alone with his thoughts with only the stars for company.