Sirius was buzzing as they returned to the flat. He hadn't felt that alive in a long time, probably since before Azkaban. After his escape he had noticed his emotions felt muted, probably a side effect of the dementor exposure but it finally felt like they had returned in full force. How had he missed the brilliant witch on his arm? Sure, he had found her attractive at first, when she fought him in the cave, then whisked him away promising warm beds and showers, and offering to fix all his problems. After that though came the weeks of planning, and the hiding things from him. She'd even managed to hide how bloody viscous she was. She'd killed Pettigrew for him! Women had done a lot for him in his life, cooked him dinner or waxed his back, but no one had ever killed for him before. Sirius looked closely at the woman next to him, still holding onto his arm despite their arrival and thought he'd never seen anything more beautiful. Her curly hair was loose around her face, stained pinkish from where she'd tried to scourgify the blood. He smirked to himself when he noticed the dirt marks on her knees and wondered if she'd crawled through that hole in the rocks he had made. He was still taking in her beauty when she suddenly turned her face towards him looking worried. He cocked his head at her.

"What?" She said suspiciously.

"Nothing," He replied evenly, still staring at her.

"I can't believe I met my younger self," she muttered, "I can't believe I traumatised my younger self!"

Sirius sighed, "She's made of tough stuff, trust me she'll be fine."

Hermione nodded once, he chucked her under the chin, the same way she had done to the girl and she smiled faintly.

"How did it go with Harry?" she questioned.

Sirius smiled openly, "Better than I ever hoped, he's brilliant you know," she smiled back at him, "Did you see he knew I was innocent! He was never going to trust that bloody rat over me." He stated proudly puffing his chest.

"Yes, I just know what you two have is special," she replied quietly.

"Well, he seemed to like you too, well both of you two too," he said struggling with the tenses.

Hermione frowned. Sirius sighed; he wasn't sure how that attempt at cheering her up had failed.

"Him and Ron both did, I hope they don't glamourise killing or something. I mean Ron said I was 'cool'," she chuckled, adding under her breath, "He didn't even think I was cool when he married me."

Sirius frowned, "What?" he asked. There was no way this brilliant woman had been married to the crying ginger kid. Sirius knew he was being unfair and they were the same age at the time but it didn't feel like a natural match.

"Nothing," she said laughing to herself. She sank back on the couch and put her hands behind her head.

"Look are you okay?" he asked. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"

"I'm so tired of talking. I'm just glad I put this place under a false name. I'm a wanted woman," she said giggling to herself as she looked up at the ceiling.

Sirius frowned again. He wondered whether she was becoming hysterical. He had seen it happen to some of the green Aurors fresh out the academy.

"Granger," he coughed, "Hermione, I know it's tough taking a life and if you want to talk about it, I'm happy to."

For some reason this made her giggle harder, he couldn't help but crack a slight smile at the way her face brightened despite his concern over her mental state.

"Oh Sirius, are you being responsible?" she said cracking one eye open at him.

He suddenly felt his good mood evaporate. Did she think he was some sort of man child? He wasn't completely incapable of talking through emotions. In fact, some women found him very sensitive.

"No, instead of bloody giggling, I just think maybe we should talk through how you feel after taking your first life." He said seriously moving closer to her on the sofa.

She abruptly stopped laughing and moved her head from the ceiling to his face. She stared into his eyes and said bemusedly,

"Sirius, that wasn't the first life I have taken, it wasn't even the fifth," she said slowly as if she was worried about scaring him. "I'd do anything for the people I care about."

If that wasn't the hottest thing Sirius had ever heard he didn't know what was. He launched himself towards her, not caring that they were both covered in the rat's blood, just wanting to be closer to the one person in the world who gave a damn about him since James had died. She gave a muffled noise of surprise before relaxing into him and kissing him back as hard as he was kissing her. It was toothy and rough and he felt her bite his neck as she scrabbled at the buttons on his shirt.

"Shower," she murmured.

"Mmhm," he agreed, picking her up and carrying her towards the bathroom.

Tap Tap Tap

They froze.

"Just ignore it," he said nuzzling into her neck.

Tap Tap Tap

She opened her eyes and pulled herself from his arms.

"It's an owl," she said pointing at the window.

He rubbed his hand over his face as she walked from him. Interrupted by a sodding owl he thought to himself. He watched her unfurl the scroll.

"I'm in," she read aloud. "Love Moony."