Wow, Chapter 7. I bet you guys never thought I would update ever again. Well, I promise to be more frequent than this, but its hard! Schools almost over, and I'm only getting a part time job this summer, so there will be plenty of time to finish this fic and go into a sequel. I know I said this would be about 28 chapters, but I decided that I would split it up, to many plotlines for just one story! Besides, I need to completed Sirius/Hermione rated M section of leaves quite a bit to be desired at present.

Disclaimer- The Harry Potter series and its characters are not mine. They would not be rated PG-13 if they were…

Who's to say where the wind will take you
Who's to know what it is will break you
I don't know which way the wind will blow
Who's to know when the time has come around
Don't wanna see you cryI know that this is not goodbye
In summer I can taste the salt in the sea
There's a kite blowing out of control on a breeze
I wonder what's gonna happen to you
You wonder what has happened to me
I'm a man, I'm not a child
A man who sees
The shadow behind your eyes

Kite- U2

Last Time on "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own"

Sirius waited another long moment, silently wondering what he would do if she didn't let him in. After what felt like an eternity, he heard a clicking and the door creped open slowly.

"Sirius?"

Sirius pushed the door open to revel Hermione standing stock-still, staring at him, in a pitch-black room. She stepped back without a word to let him in, and he switched on the lights. As light poured into the room, he almost wished he hadn't. Hermione looked pale and fragile, a mere whisp of the woman she once was. This seemed emphasized by the many pictures of her, Ron and Harry that hung behind her in the hall. The photographs all smiled and waved happily out of their frames reminding Sirius of what she had lost, physically and emotionally. Maybe it would have been better to leave the lights off.

"Oh Merlin Hermione. You scared me so much, leaving like that." He said, shifting from foot to foot uncomfortably.

"I can't let them take me! I won't go. I won't let them." Hermione looked frantic and scared. Something in her look made Sirius feel absolutely awful that Remus and Tonks had ever tried to do anything to her. Anything that hurt her more was simply cruel.

"It's okay Hermione. I won't let them take you. Come on, let's just sit down and talk about this." He smiled graciously and walked through the hall into the open living/dining/kitchen area of her home. Could he really even call this Hermione's home? She hadn't been here in a long twelve months. Looking around the room, Sirius saw traces of his godson everywhere. The coffee table held outdated copies of "Quiditch Weekly" and the mantle held pictures of the Lily and James as well as the 'Golden trio' at various ages. Sirius led Hermione slowly to the chocolate-colored couch and motioned for her to sit. She seemed dazed, like this was not her own home, but someone else's and she was simply a guest in it.

After sitting in silence for a moment, Hermione seemed to compose herself slightly. "How did you find me here?" she asked almost accusatorially.

"Well, it was a rather funny story actually…" He said, chuckling in spite of himself. He stopped immediately after seeing the look in her eyes. "I was worried about you Hermione. I can't just have you run off like that. I know Harry was your fiancé, but he was as good as a son to me." He paused slightly and than continued slowly. "I can't lose anyone else Hermione. It's been too much at once, but if I learned one thing in that bloody veil it's that you can't take your life for granted. You survived for a reason 'Mione."

"A reason! You think that there is any good reason for me to have survived when everyone I loved didn't! I survived because I was weak, because I couldn't fight any longer. I didn't deserve to live, I didn't even want to live." Her expression held steady, as if daring him to object. But he did object…

"No Hermione, I won't accept that! You are not weak, and you never have been!"

"I'm not in the mood to be arguing with you Sirius Black!" She rose quickly and grabbed his arm, looking fiercely down at him. "Please leave my house, now. You are quite aware I could hex you into oblivion".

"I am not leaving," he said calmly. As she reached for her wand, he grabbed both her wrists and held them tightly. She struggled intensely against his grip, but he held fast and she was no match for a 22-year-old Sirius. "Damn it Hermione! You're just afraid! You're fucking afraid to live your own life!"

Hermione fell against the couch, sobbing and Sirius immediately released her. Oh god, what the hell have I done this time? He fell onto the couch as well, wondering desperately what to do. How many times do I have to say that I'm horrible with crying beautiful women? Beautiful? Where did that come from? Sirius! Stay on task. Right. Okay, there's a girl crying so you comfort her. But I'm the one who made her cry! Doesn't matter, I can't just leave her like this. Ending his own internal argument, Sirius tentatively put his arm around her, rubbing small circles on her back. Hermione immediately flung her arms around him, still sobbing. Looking Uncomfortable, Sirius continued to hold the crying girl. She seemed so incredibly small to Sirius.

"It's going to be alright." He said quietly, almost completely muffled by her thick hair. He didn't really know if it was going to be 'alright' for her, but he was certainly going to try. Still crying, Hermione slowly drifted sleep.

Once Sirius thought she was truly asleep, he slowly scooted away, replacing himself with a throw pillow so Hermione wouldn't awaken. "Don't leave me." She muttered in her sleep.

"Not to worry Hermione," he said quietly, more to himself than her. "I won't."

"Do you suppose Sirius found her?" said Tonks nervously, walking the busy streets of Hogsmeade with Remus.

"He would have found us by now, however different Hogsmeade may be." Remus replied, gazing at the changed landscape. The once quaint village had been burnt to the ground during the war by the Deatheaters. Still magically protected from muggles, the first true wizarding city rose in its place. The streets were still cobblestone, but where small shops had once been, taller more modern buildings rose, making Hogsmeade resemble a mini-muggle-London, complete with apartment buildings and department stores. It was the epitome of fusion between muggle and wizarding cultures that had taken place at the end of the war.

"Should we go find him in Diagon Alley?" Tonks asked quietly. She had told her usually assertive self to stuff it. She had mucked this up, and she felt absolutely awful for it.

"No, Sirius knows what he's doing. I trust him. I think the best thing we can do now is go back to the flat and wait. He'll find her if anyone can. He's practically a search dog!" Remus was trying to look less worried. His lady could be a complete dolt sometimes, but he knew she was beating herself up for it. He certainly didn't want to make her feel more guilty, or worse, turn her guilt into anger against him. Misdirected rage from an Auror could be a very dangerous thing, and Remus had learned this the hard way.

"If you trust him, I trust him." She said. Remus grabbed her hand tightly and they apparated together to their flat.

Sirius sat on the couch with Hermione for a long while, thinking over the events of the past two weeks. What rung most clearly in his ears were his own words only moments before "I know Harry was your fiancé, but he was as good as a son to me." Why didn't it hurt more that he had lost Harry? Why hadn't he simply fallen apart as so many other survivors had? It made Sirius wonder if the veil had done something to him, made him evil in some way. I certainly don't feel evil. But what the heck does evil feel like? I mean, the veil was evil, and I don't feel like some barmy old piece of cloth. Maybe it was something else. But what? What made him different than Hermione? And how could that help her?

Deciding to think about it another time, he glanced up at the clock on the mantle piece and frowned slightly. Instead of being a normal clock, it was like the Weasley's- only with far more options for a person's whereabouts. Hermione's hand was resting on "Home", as was Bill and Fleur's names. Obviously the Weasleys were part of the Harry and Hermione's "family". Fred's name was on "Hospital" and so was Harry's and Ginny's.

Sirius gasped suddenly as he read the last name on the clock's face. It was his own. Though this was not in itself surprising, it was the fact that it read that he to was at "Home". Sirius was shocked by this, not knowing exactly what to think. Did it just mean that he was at Harry and Hermione's home, or was it something more? Staring absently at into in deep thought, Sirius was shocked to see that the regular clock said it was already 13:03.

Scooting silently to his feet, Sirius scribbled a note to Hermione, and left the flat quickly. After walking to a safe looking alley, he apparated to Remus and Tonks' flat to try to convince them of his plan.

Ten minutes later, Tonks was screaming at her cousin.

"You want to what!" she yelled. "How in the name of magic will that help? A ex-convict, ex-crazy man recently escaped from seven years living in a hell dimension living with a crazy woman! I'm sure you two would be splendid together!"

Sirius rounded on Tonks quickly, his anger almost making him forget himself. "Better than you would be! You drove her away, nearly lost her again with your wonderful interpersonal skills! She's terrified of the both of you, and whose fault is that? Yours! So yes, a convict crazy man would do Hermione a great deal of good compared to the other friends she's got!"

"Sirius, Nymph, calm down" said Remus sternly, stepping between the two warring Black's.

"Nymphadora, you've been quite tactless towards Sirius, though everything you've said has been based in truth. Can we please just all look at this rationally for a minute?" When both nodded grudgingly, Remus continued. They were both still mad though, fuming. You could see it in Sirius' eyes, but much more obvious was Tonks' hair turning a bright red shade as if on fire.

"Sirius, do you really think it's a good idea for you to live with Hermione?" asked Remus.

"Yes it's a good…" but Remus cut him off. "Just hear me out. Have you even let anything that's happened sink in yet Padfoot. People died, people you loved. You seem fine now, but are you sure you're really fine?"

"Of course I'm sure! You think I don't realize they're dead, you think I've just gone crazy again? Ah yes, Sirius Black, can't handle himself so just laughs and gets dragged off to Azkaban. I bloody well know they're dead! But Hermione is alive. The two of you let her go, let her nearly die. I'm not going to make your stupid mistakes again."

"That's not fair Sirius! She just disappeared. We had our own problems to live with." Tonk said hotly.

"Oh really now. Did your boyfriend go into a coma? Did you lose your best friend? No, you had Remus, and Hermione had no one. Did you look for her? Did you ever try to find her? Or did you just assume she was gone forever?" Sirius was beyond anger now. He was pacing back and forth, just waiting for whatever Tonks would say.

"You were in the veil, you weren't here, you can't possibly understand!" Screamed Tonks. She glared at the both of them and then stormed out of the room, her hair changing seeming to be on fire with color.

Sirius stopped in his tracks, she had gone to far. "You're right. I wasn't here to help her, to help Harry. To save them both" he said in a somber tone, his guilt setting in. He sank into a chair at the small kitchen table, putting his head in his hands.

Remus sat down next to Sirius and put his hand on Sirius's shoulder. "It's not your fault old friend. You couldn't have saved everyone. You're just one man." Remus said quietly. Sirius looked up at him, his grey eyes shining with tears.

"I could have done something. Anything. I could have seen Harry grow up, help him somehow." His voice cracked slightly as he continued. "I could have fought, and died with the rest of them, instead of falling into some stupid veil. I missed the fight Moony, I hid like a coward." He put his head back down, hanging it in shame.

"You didn't have a choice! You fell into that damned veil fighting for Harry. That's the best thing you could have done. As for Hermione, I feel responsible. Tonks' lost Charlie, you may not have known it, but they had been best friends since Hogwarts. But I should have done something. She made us think she just needed to escape the fame, but I knew that there was something much more deeply wrong. But I was so damned caught up in my own grief, and Nymphadora's that I didn't think of anyone else…"

Sirius looked up at Remus again. "No, don't beat yourself up about this Remus. I feel like an idiot yelling at Tonks like that. Especially with Charlie…"

"You really did strike a nerve, I'll tell you that" said Remus nervously "She'll cool down eventually, after taking some of it out on me." He chuckled and cringed at the same time.

"So are you really going to try to live with Hermione?" asked Remus.

"Yeah, I really am." Said Sirius sincerely. "I really need to try to help her, and I think maybe helping her just might help me. It will be alright someday, for the both of us."

"Well, if you truly think that, than I wish you the best of luck Padfoot."

"I'll need all the luck I can get. I haven't actually asked if I can live with her yet" Sirius said sheepishly, letting out his doglike laugh as Remus raised one eyebrow at him.

At the same moment, Hermione was rolling over in her sleep. Her arms reached around, searching for a non-existent body. She rolled over again in her sleep, hugging onto a pillow and looking more peaceful than she had in years. She muttered "Sirius" before falling back to sleep.
A/N- Well, there you have it. Not that long, but the chapter needed to end. I'm sorry to make Tonks out to be mean, she really is one of my favorite characters. But she can be a bit blunt sometimes. Don't worry, she'll get over it. So, Sirius is going to live with Hermione now? Fun fun.