Bound

Hermione Granger had been married to Harry Potter for three years and she was happy.

It didn't matter that they argued a lot and it was only natural that he'd be distant sometimes after everything he'd been through. It didn't matter that he worked so hard that they hardly saw each other. It didn't even matter that she'd more or less made up her mind that she was going to leave him right before she found out she was pregnant.

Everything had changed then. Hermione had given up work to look after Alice, and although she missed her job desperately at times, she couldn't bear the thought of leaving Alice with anyone else. Harry had turned out to be a wonderful father and Hermione loved their daughter so much that leaving him didn't seem to be an issue any more. She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and told herself it had never existed. Now, everything was good between them. She loved him and she was happy.

That was before Sirius Black came back into their lives.

It had happened when their daughter was nearly two years old. Hermione was in the kitchen with Alice, entertaining her with flying eggs as she set about making the tea, when Albus Dumbledore's face appeared in the fireplace.

"Professor," said Hermione. "How lovely to see you." There was something wrong in his face; she could see it right away. She put a protective arm around her daughter, waiting for the bomb to drop.

"Is Harry in?" asked Dumbledore, without even asking after her or Alice as he always did. Something was definitely wrong.

"He's upstairs," said Hermione, scooping Alice up into her arms. "I'll get him."

"No," said Dumbledore quickly. "It's probably best that he hears this from you. I'm not sure how he'll take it."

"What's happened?" she asked, squeezing her daughter a little too tightly as the panic began to bubble in the pit of her stomach.

The old man took a deep breath. "It's Sirius. We've found him."

The next few hours passed in a blur. Dumbledore told Hermione that Sirius had been pulled out of the veil the previous night when someone had accidentally triggered something during an experiment. He apparently had no memory of the last six years and didn't seem to have aged a day, but other than that he was fine. Hermione raced upstairs to tell Harry and then spent a nervous six-hour wait at home with Alice while Harry went to meet Dumbledore at the hospital. By the time Harry returned with Sirius by his side, it was nearly midnight and Hermione had almost worn a path in the drawing room carpet where she had paced up and down.

When she saw them she burst into tears. Harry's face was streaked with dried tears and he couldn't stop smiling, couldn't tear his eyes away from his godfather. For his part, Sirius looked a little bewildered but other than that it was as though he'd never left.

Hermione threw her arms around both of them, sobbing and talking nineteen to the dozen until Harry gently pulled her off and took her to the kitchen to make some tea.

The next few days were a whirlwind of people coming and going; officials to take statements from Sirius, more officials to finalise his exoneration and register his status as an animagus, endless well wishers and friends and even a few reporters who wanted to get an interview with anyone they could find. Hermione barely had a moment to speak to Sirius since he moved in.

It wasn't until they were in a room full of people for the fifth consecutive day and Sirius came up behind her that she noticed anything between them. He slipped his arm around her waist, resting his palm on the small of her back.

"Are you alright?" he whispered into her hair. "You look exhausted."

It was only a small thing, but she noticed how nice his hand felt and found herself leaning back towards it. She could feel his warm breath caress her neck and it sent tingles shooting through her body. She felt it right then; an instant and powerful attraction to him, but she pushed it to the back of her mind as quickly as it had arrived.

Little things started to happen between them more frequently over the next few weeks as Sirius settled into life back at Grimmauld Place. She found herself staying up later than usual just to get a little time alone with him when Harry had gone to bed, or standing closer to him than she normally would, just to feel his warmth against her. Even just his elbow brushing hers started a little fire in the pit of her stomach.

She was very affectionate with Sirius, much more so than she had ever been with Harry, and Sirius was equally affectionate with her. He'd put his hands on her hips as he walked past her in the kitchen even when there was plenty of room for him to get by. Once when they had visitors there wasn't a spare chair and Harry was about to get up and offer her his when Sirius pulled her down on to his lap. Whenever they talked, his eyes would linger on hers just a fraction longer than was appropriate, and if she passed him a plate at dinner, his hands would always close over hers before he took it off her. It was so subtle that Hermione sometimes wondered if she was imagining it, but then she would catch him snatching his hand from her shoulder when Harry came into the room as though he'd done something wrong. If there was nothing between them he surely wouldn't react like that, would he?

She didn't feel guilty about the way she felt. This was her private pleasure, something for her to enjoy and her alone. Besides, she knew nothing would ever come of it. Sirius was Harry's godfather after all, and even if he weren't, he would never really be interested in her in that way. She simply wasn't his type. She suspected that he enjoyed their little flirtation for the same reasons she did; it made her life a little more interesting and gave her something to look forward to each day.

She had never had this kind of sexual attraction with Harry, or with anyone for that matter, but at least she and Harry were having sex again, even if Sirius's face did occasionally appear in her mind as she made love to Harry. Actually, she had to admit that she did feel a little guilty about that, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him, and she would never want to hurt him. She did love him after all.

The first time she realised things might be getting a little out of hand was one day when Harry was out at work and she and Sirius were playing with Alice. Hermione loved to watch him playing with her; he seemed to have endless patience and thought nothing of putting her potty on his head just to make her laugh. Occasionally, Hermione had caught him watching Alice with so much sadness in his eyes that she wanted to wrap her arms around him. She knew he was wondering what his own children would have looked like, wondering what could have happened if his life had turned out differently.

It was a day like this that it happened. Sirius had that look in his eyes as Alice planted a wet kiss on his cheek, throwing her arms around his neck with uninhibited abandon in the way that only a child can. Hermione saw his eyes cloud over and she knew she'd lost him for a moment. She couldn't stand it, couldn't bear to see the hurt etched into the lines on his face. She got Alice's attention and gave her a private signal. Alice dutifully blew a very wet raspberry into Sirius's ear, sending both her and Sirius into gales of laughter.

"That's disgusting!" gasped Sirius as he wrestled a still giggling Alice on to the floor. "You little tyke!"

"Mummy!" shrieked Alice, pointing at Hermione with a chubby finger. "Mummy said raspberry!"

"Oh she did, did she?" said Sirius with a wicked glint in her eye.

"You little sneak!" said Hermione, feigning shock at the two year old.

"Hermione, I'm shocked!" said Sirius, grinning from ear to ear as he stood up and walked menacingly towards Hermione. "Fancy getting your innocent child to do your dirty work. I'm surprised you could stoop so low!"

"No, Sirius, don't you dare!" yelled Hermione, rooted to the spot as she wondered what he would do.

"What do you think, Alice?" Sirius said, looking conspiratorially at Alice. "Do you think Mummy should be punished for that?" Alice squealed in delight.

Sirius gave her a wicked grin and pounced, wrestling her easily to the floor. He sat astride her stomach, pinning her hands above her head. Hermione tried to pull away but his reflexes were like lightening. She shrieked and struggled, trying to break free, but suddenly she caught Sirius's eye and stopped, realising her heart was pounding. A wide grin spread across Sirius's face as he stared down at her, breathless and flushed beneath him. He bent his head towards hers and for a heart-stopping second, she was sure he was going to kiss her, but as quickly as the moment arrived, it passed and Sirius stood up, grabbing Alice and lifting her into the air. He carried on laughing as though nothing had happened, leaving Hermione lying on the floor with her heart in her mouth, wondering how the hell she had managed to come so close to cheating on her husband right in front of her two year old daughter.

It was enough to knock a little sense in to her for a couple of weeks. She tried to avoid being alone with Sirius as much as possible, and when she had to spend time with him she kept the conversation light and tried not to think about how desperately she had wanted to kiss him. Eventually, though, the panic died down and the flirting started to creep back without her even noticing.

The hardest thing for Hermione is that none of it was ever acknowledged. She sometimes longed to get it out in the open; the suspense of wondering what was going through Sirius's mind was killing her. He never even once gave her the slightest impression that there was anything between them and she found herself analysing every move he made to try and work out how he really felt about her. Every time he so much as looked at her she would agonise over whether there was anything meaningful in his eyes. It was ridiculously childish and bordering on obsessive, but she had never felt such a primal, physical attraction to a man before and it was becoming harder for her to deal with. She started to wonder whether this was how it was supposed to be, whether she'd been a fool to settle for Harry when she could have had this with someone else. She did love Harry, but she started to have doubts about whether she was in love with him and the thought unsettled her.

Things finally came to a head one evening about three months after Sirius had returned. He and Harry had spent the afternoon in the Leaky Cauldron with Remus and Ron while Hermione stayed at home with Alice. They'd dressed in muggle clothes since they were going to spend some time in Muggle London, and Sirius had on a simple black sweater and black trousers. He looked breathtakingly handsome. His long, black hair hung down his back, a few strands falling across his face so that his smouldering, smoky eyes peered out from behind. He hugged her as they left and she let her hands linger on his shoulders for just a second, drinking in the feel of his hardened, muscular frame beneath the soft fabric of his sweater.

They'd all come back at teatime and they were very drunk. Sirius pulled out a bottle of Firewhisky and proceeded to pour himself and the others a glass, but predictably, Harry was asleep within minutes. Harry always had trouble keeping up with Remus and Ron in the drinking stakes, and Sirius could out-drink them all. Hermione put both Harry and Alice to bed and then went back downstairs to join the party.

Whether it was because Sirius was drunk, or whether it was because it didn't take long for the effects of the Firewhisky to hit her too, she didn't know, but something in Sirius had changed. He suddenly became openly flirtatious with her, far more blatant than he had been in the past.

He sat down on the sofa next to Hermione, grabbing her feet as he did so and putting them down on his lap.

"I can't believe that mad Muggle. He was just wandering down the street talking to himself! It was hysterical!" said Sirius, his fingers casually drawing little circles on Hermione's leg as he spoke.

"I'm sure there's a rational explanation for it," said Remus. "What do you think, Hermione?"

"Um... yes, yes I'm sure there is," said Hermione, wondering what on earth they were talking about.

Sirius carried on talking as Hermione tried to concentrate on the conversation. Sirius always talked with his hands, and Hermione found it difficult to get her mind off them. Each time he spoke, he'd lift his hands to illustrate a point and then bring them back down on to her leg or her foot. It was mesmerising, watching them rise and fall, feeling the sudden coldness as they left her skin and then anticipating the electrifying rush when they returned.

"Move up a bit," said Sirius, squeezing Hermione's knee gently.

"What? Oh, OK," Hermione replied, hardly hearing him. Sirius pushed her forward slightly and lay behind her on the sofa, propping his head up on one arm and draping the other across her waist. Hermione lay on her back staring over at the fire. Sirius's body was pressed against her side and she could feel the heat from his skin beneath his clothes, feel his hip bone pressing into hers, his hand grazing her skin between her shirt and jeans...

"Hermione, are you alright? You're very quiet," said Remus, the sound of her name jolting her back to reality.

"I'm fine, just a little tired," she said quickly. Sirius slid his hand just underneath the edge of her shirt sending her heart racing again. He left it there for a while as the conversation continued, but just as it had started to feel familiar to her and her heartbeat started to slow, he lifted it to take a sip of his drink and brought it back down to rest on her ribcage, the edge of his fingers brushing the curve of her breast.

It was more than she could take. Her whole body was screaming for attention, for him to kiss her, touch her, anything... She felt as though every inch of her skin was on fire. Had he got any idea what he was doing to her?

She leapt off the sofa and muttered something about using the little girl's room. Once in the hallway she collapsed on the stairs, her heart thumping in her chest. She was sitting with her head in her hands, desperately trying to get her breath back and her head together, when Sirius appeared in the doorway. He closed the door behind him and stood in front of her.

"What's wrong?" he asked lightly. She looked up into his eyes, and straightaway, she knew without a doubt that he knew exactly what he was doing to her, and he was enjoying it.

She stood up to face him. There was no point in pretending anymore. The game was over.

"What are you doing, Sirius?" she asked him, trying to force annoyance into her voice, trying not to notice how close he was standing to her.

"I'm not doing anything. What do you mean?" He moved closer, his hands hanging casually by his side.

"You know perfectly well what I mean," hissed Hermione. "Don't play games with me, Sirius. There's something going on here and you know it."

"Well, I'm sure I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," said Sirius, a sly smile spreading across his face. "Do you want me to stop?"

He lifted his hands on to her waist and closed the gap between their bodies. Hermione desperately fought to keep her cool as her stomach did somersaults, her entire body tingling with anticipation.

Their lips were almost touching, their faces inches apart. She could feel his breath on her lips, feel his eyes burning through hers.

"Sirius, don't," she whispered, willing herself to move, to go upstairs to Harry and climb into bed with him, but she seemed to have totally lost control of her body.

"Why not? You can't tell me you don't want this, Hermione."

Before she could think, before she knew what was happening, his lips were on hers and he was kissing her, his tongue in her mouth, his hands snaking up her back and pressing her body to his, and then she was kissing him back and her hands were in his hair, pulling him into her as though her life depended on it.

Just for a moment, she let herself go, let herself feel this utterly consuming passion that left her reeling and desperate for more, and then she pulled her lips away. She stared at him breathlessly, his body still wrapped around hers, holding her to him.

She meant to move, meant to pull away, but then she was kissing him again and she couldn't seem to stop.

It took her a moment to remember where she was, to remember that her husband was upstairs and her friends were behind the door, but still it took all her strength to tear herself away. She turned away from him and let her head fall onto the wall while she fought an inner battle between what was right and what was good, knowing that if she looked into his eyes she'd kiss him again.

Sirius came up behind her and put his arms around her waist, pulling her against him. He was hard for her, she could feel it pressing into her, and she could feel herself grinding herself into him. He leaned forwards and brushed her hair back, kissing her gently on the neck. She let her head fall backwards to rest on his shoulder, sinking once again into the delicious feeling that was spreading over her body.

"Sirius..." she whispered, her hands covering his on her ribs. "Sirius, we can't do this." She meant to pull his hands away, but she seemed to be holding them against her, pushing them toward her breasts.

"Then stop," he said between kisses. He pushed his hands up over her breasts and her legs gave way beneath her, a low moan rising from her throat before she could stop it. She swivelled round in his arms and he pushed her hard against the wall, finding her breasts again as his lips crushed hers in a hungry kiss.

Just for a moment, she promised herself again as her hand ran up the length of his erection beneath his trousers. Just enjoy it for a moment and then stop before it goes too far. Sirius let out a soft growl.

"Hermione..." He whispered her name, the sound sending fire through her blood, the feel of his hot breath on her ear radiating across her skin.

His hand ran down to her hip, and she knew if he went any further she'd be powerless to stop him. With her last bit of strength, she pictured Harry's face clearly in her mind and pulled herself away.

"Sirius, this can't happen," she said firmly.

"Why not? No one has to know." He started to move towards her, but she held her hand out to stop him.

"No! Sirius, you're drunk. In the morning you're going to be mortified that we even got this far. Harry is your godson. You love him. Just think about how much this would hurt him."

Sirius stopped in his tracks, the smile fading from his face. Before he could say another word, Hermione smoothed down her hair and clothes and walked back into the drawing room where Ron and Remus were still chatting away. Remus looked up at her questioningly. He knew. She could see it in his eyes and she felt a flush of shame creep across her face.

"I'm off to bed, you two," she said, forcing a light-hearted smile. "Don't you go trying to Apparate home, alright? Just stay here for tonight."

"OK," said Ron brightly. "Night, Hermione."

Remus said nothing, merely nodding as Hermione turned to leave. When she got back out into the hall, Sirius was gone, and she gratefully ran up to her room. She climbed into bed and wrapped her arms around Harry, letting the comfort of familiarity calm her racing mind. She fell asleep quickly, the burning imprints of Sirius's hands on her body still tingling.

~

The next morning, Hermione awoke early to Alice's cries. She looked over at Harry, who showed no signs of life, and reluctantly dragged herself out of bed, her head throbbing from too much Firewhisky and lack of sleep.

She dressed Alice and made her breakfast in a daze, her head still reeling from the events of the previous night. How could she have let that happen? Either Harry, Ron or Remus could have walked in on them at any moment, and she was sure Remus knew what had happened. What if he told Harry? What if Sirius told Harry? Had it really been worth the risk?

Yes, said a little voice in the back of her head, and a rush of warmth ran through her body as the memory of Sirius's hot breath and strong hands flashed through her mind. She angrily pushed the thought away. It didn't matter what happened from here on in. She would have to spend the rest of her life with Harry knowing that she had betrayed him in the worst possible way. Nothing could make that go away. She had damaged their relationship irreparably in that one moment of weakness.

She knew she needed to talk to someone, needed a fresh perspective on all of this. She couldn't talk to Sirius or Harry, that was clear enough. Ginny would probably just tell her to sleep with Sirius on the side and keep things going with Harry. She couldn't tell Ron; he was so fiercely loyal to Harry that he would probably tell him. Her mother would only worry, so that only left one person. Remus was the only one who loved them all equally and who was capable of putting his own feelings aside to help her look at this logically. She felt sure he would ask Sirius about it anyway, so she might as well get to him first and tell him herself.

By the time Alice was dressed and fed, Hermione had made up her mind to ask Remus for help.

Remus was the first one up, as usual. Sirius never rose before eleven and Ron and Harry would be out until at least noon after a drinking session like that. Remus appeared just after nine without the slightest trace of a hangover.

"Morning," he said rather stiffly, helping himself to some bread from the cupboard.

Hermione turned to face him, flinching at the obvious anger in his eyes.

"I need to talk to you. Come to the park with me and Alice?" she looked at him pleadingly, hoping he would give her a chance to explain.

"I think that's probably a good idea," he said, his expression softening a little.

They walked to the park in silence apart from Alice's continual chatter. Hermione tried to smile for her and join in with her conversation but her heart wasn't in it and Alice could tell. When they got to the park, Alice kissed her mother and raced off to join the other children on the climbing frame, leaving Hermione and Remus free to talk.

"Well, I suppose you can guess what I want to talk about," said Hermione after a long silence.

"Would it be your little encounter with Sirius in the hall last night, by any chance?" asked Remus with a gentle smile.

Hermione nodded. "You saw?" she asked.

"Well, quite apart from the fact that I've seen Sirius make those moves a hundred times before, I also heard. You weren't exactly subtle."

Hermione buried her head in her hands. "Gods, Remus. Ron doesn't know does he?"

"No," said Remus. "He did wonder where you'd gone but I told him you'd had an argument earlier and you were just clearing the air."

"Thank you," said Hermione gratefully, her eyes filling up with tears. "I'm so sorry, Remus. I should never have put you in a position like that. I just don't know what happened."

As she started to talk, she suddenly found she couldn't stop and she told Remus everything; the attraction she had felt toward Sirius from the moment he'd arrived, the way she'd fought it as hard as she could as soon as she realised it was getting out of control, and how Sirius had ruthlessly pursued her the night before. Remus listened silently, putting his arm around Hermione's shoulder.

"What am I going to do?" she sobbed, resting her head on his shoulder.

Remus sighed, stroking her hair as he spoke.

"Oh Hermione. I almost feel as though I should be apologising to you for his behaviour. You're not the first girl I've had this conversation with, believe me." Hermione stiffened a little, but she was glad to hear it all the same. At least it helped to put things into perspective for her. "Perhaps you were too young to see it before, but Sirius has a way of attracting women to him, and he's never been one to let a little thing like marriage get in the way of it. I must admit, though, I didn't think he'd do it to Harry."

"Don't blame him, Remus. It wasn't all his fault," said Hermione, sitting up to look at him. "He's never done anything before, he was just drunk."

"Well, I'll have that discussion with him myself. I don't know how he feels about you, Hermione, whether it's different, but that's probably beside the point. The important thing to work out is how you feel about him and how you feel about Harry."

Hermione felt a well of panic rising in her chest. "I don't know," she said anxiously. "I don't think I love Sirius. I've never felt an attraction like this to anyone before but I don't know whether it's love or not."

"What about Harry," said Remus softly. "Do you love Harry?"

"Of course I.... I do..." Hermione trailed off, staring down at her hands. "I don't know," she finished. "I thought I did, but how can I love him and feel like this about Sirius? I know I couldn't bear to hurt him, and this would kill him if he found out."

"Yes, it would," said Remus simply. "And it would kill Sirius to lose Harry too, no matter how he feels about you. But you have to think about yourself, Hermione. What do you want?"

Hermione sighed and stared off at Alice clambering across the climbing frame. She saw her mother watching her and waved, beaming from ear to ear. Hermione's heart melted. "The only thing I want is to make Alice happy. Harry loves her so much, I could never separate them."

"Then you have to ask yourself if you can keep this a secret and carry on living with Harry. And whether you can live without Sirius. You have to understand that if you choose to stay with Harry then this thing with Sirius has to stop right now," said Remus.

Hermione dropped her head back onto Remus's shoulder and thought. She knew what she had to do. She couldn't let this come between her and Harry, or Harry and Sirius. She only had to take one look at her daughter to know that she was doing the right thing. But could she really manage to control herself around Sirius? And more to the point, did she want to? The sound of that growling moan suddenly filled her head. Just the thought of him made her start to forget her resolve. How on earth would she ever resist if he tried this again? She looked over at Alice again and clung on to the image of her smiling face.

"I want to be with Harry," she said firmly. "But what happens the next time Sirius gets drunk? I'm going to be near him for the rest of my life and if he tries it on again it'll only take one moment of weakness to ruin this. How can I live with that?"

"You'll just have to talk to Sirius," said Remus. "Think about it, Hermione. Make sure this is what you want. If you tell Sirius, he'll back off. I know he will. But let me talk to him first, all right? I need to find out what's going on in his head before this gets out of hand."

Hermione nodded.

"I don't know what I'd do without you, Remus. Thank you."

Remus planted a kiss on Hermione's head. "You know I love all of you. This is a mess, but we can sort it out." He stood up to leave. "Stay here with Alice. I'm going to get Sirius and I'll bring him here when I've finished with him."

Hermione somehow doubted that Remus would be as sympathetic with Sirius as he had been with her, but she didn't care. She concentrated all her thoughts on her family; Alice and Harry. Poor Harry, who was to be kept in the dark for his own protection once again by the people who supposedly love him. He didn't deserve this. She wondered whether the lies would hurt him more than the act itself if he ever find out.

He must never find out, she resolved. If it killed her, she would make sure he never found out what she'd done.

~

Hermione was pushing Alice on the swing when she saw Sirius arrive.

"How's my favourite girl?" Sirius said with a beaming smile at Alice as he walked toward them.

Hermione lifted Alice out of the swing. "Will you go and play while Uncle Sirius and Mummy have a chat?" she asked. Alice smiled and ran off as Sirius and Hermione walked back toward the bench.

Hermione took a deep breath and started to speak before she lost her nerve.

"Sirius, I -"

"Wait, Hermione, please," Sirius said softly. "Let me go first."

Hermione stopped and stared ahead of her, afraid that if she looked at him she'd give in.

Sirius sighed heavily. "Hermione, I'm so sorry. What I did last night was unforgivable. I should never have pushed you the way I did. I won't blame you if you want to tell Harry and I want you to know that I'll make sure he understands that you didn't do anything."

Hermione turned to look at Sirius open-mouthed, surprise evident in her face. She didn't know what she'd expected him to say, but it certainly wasn't that. He looked so ashamed of himself, so utterly helpless that she could almost feel herself melting.

"Sirius, you don't need to protect me. I'm not a little girl. I was as much to blame for last night as you were. I should have stopped you before it even started but I didn't, did I?"

"Well, no, but you were drunk and I took advantage of you. I shouldn't have."

Hermione laughed softly. "Sirius, you don't have to be a gentleman, though I truly appreciate the offer. I hate lying to Harry but if he finds out what happened he'd end up losing everyone he really cares about."

"I know," said Sirius mournfully. "I don't know how I could have been so stupid. It's just been so difficult these last few weeks. I've found it very hard to... control myself around you."

"Me too," said Hermione, trying not to lose herself in his eyes again. "But we need to control ourselves if we're going to get through this thing. Do you think you can carry on as though nothing's happened?"

"Yes," he said firmly. "Absolutely. And I've made a decision. I'm going to move out. It's time I got my own place and started to get back into life again."

Hermione sighed. "I think that would probably be for the best," she said heavily. She hated the thought of not seeing him everyday, but it was the only way. She knew it.

Sirius hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head. "I'm so glad we sorted this out," he whispered.

Hermione smiled as she lost herself in Sirius's strong arms for the last time. She ached for one last kiss, but she knew it was better this way. Perhaps she could deal with this. Perhaps it wasn't the end of the world.

"Did Remus give you a hard time?" she asked as they walked Alice back towards the house. Sirius let out a barking laugh.

"Yes. And I deserved it. He practically dragged me out of the house by my ear and then he yelled at me for twenty minutes solid before I could get a word in. Molly would have been proud."

~

Sirius moved out two days later. Harry was devastated, but Sirius refused to change his mind.

"Ron told me you had an argument with him," said Harry as they lay in bed one night. "That's not why he's moving out, is it?"

"No, of course not," said Hermione, pretending to be suddenly interested in her bedside lamp. "It wasn't an argument anyway, just a disagreement. He was just being drunk and noisy and I told him to shut up or he'd wake Alice."

"But Ron said you were in the hall arguing for ages," Harry pressed on.

Hermione silently cursed Ron and his big mouth. "Ron was drunker than you were," she said, trying to keep her voice light. "The last time he got that drunk it took us three days to convince him that the man he punched wasn't a mountain troll."

"True," said Harry with a smile. Hermione leaned across and kissed him.

"Don't worry about him so much," said Hermione. "It'll probably be good for him. It's time he got his life back."

Harry grinned and pulled Hermione on top of him.

"At least we won't have to worry if he can hear us anymore," he said, pulling her nightdress over her head.

Hermione laughed. She did love Harry. He'd been her whole world since she was eleven years old and she couldn't imagine life without him. She was bound to him in more ways than she could count. He was the father of her child and no one could ever break a bond like that. He'd saved the world and he'd saved her. She could never hurt him, not for anything. It didn't matter that he didn't make her tremble the way Sirius had. It didn't matter that his hands didn't feel like white-hot heat on her skin, or that she would spend the rest of her life wondering what it would be like to have that feeling again, to have it all the time. It didn't matter that it was Sirius's face she saw before she went to sleep each night and when she woke up in the morning. It didn't matter that every time Harry made love to her, she wondered how it would feel if he were Sirius. She loved Harry.

She loved Harry.