There's two things I know for sure
She was sent here from heaven
And she's daddy's little girl
As I drop to my knees by her bed at night
She talks to Jesus and I close my eyes
And I thank God for all of the joy in my life
Oh but most of all
For butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer
Stickin' little white flowers all up in her hair
Walk beside the pony daddy it's my first ride
I know the cake looks funny daddy but I sure tried
Oh with all that I've done wrong
I must have done something right
To deserve a hug every mornin'
And butterfly kisses at night

Sirius stood in the doorway of his six year old daughter's pink room in the Marauders' Tower at Hogwarts, watching as she knelt down on her bed side for her nightly prayer. He closed his eyes as she began and thanked Merlin that he got to keep her. She was his little girl, his baby, sent to him to make him a better person. She was a factor in every decision he ever made, including not going after Pettigrew that fateful night. Once she finished her prayer, he walked over to her and helped her fold down the bed. He tucked her in and sat on the side of the bed and pulled the Grimm Brothers Fairytales book into his lap and read her 'Rapunzel', her favorite story. When he reached the end of the story, he looked down at her and saw she was already in dreamland. Sirius smiled and carefully stood up. He pulled the blanket up a little further and placed her stuffed grim next to her, Hermione turned and wrapped her arms securely around the black dog. He bent down and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Night, Daddy." She mumbled, opening her eyes slightly and giving him a sleepy smile.

"Sweet dreams, Princess." He replied, dropping one last kiss on her forehead and turning off the bedside lamp. He smiled at her one more time from the door before turning the overhead light off and closing the door, making sure to leave it open a crack.

He paused and looked at the photos on the wall outside of her room. He touched the most recent one lightly. It was taken on her last birthday, a few days ago. She and Harry had spent a few hours with Tonks while he, James, and Remus got everything set up at the house. She had arrived a few minutes before the guest with daisy braided all through her long black curls, which were also braided. He glowered subtly at Tonks, knowing it would take him forever to get it all undone. She gave him a smirk in return before scooping the little girl up and taking her over to the pony ride.

"Daddy!" She had yelled, "Walk next to me!"

He quickly complied, causing James and Remus to laugh slightly, stopping when Harry picked up a piece of cake and flung it at them, hitting James square in the face. Sirius took his turn to laugh.

"Daddy, you shouldn't laugh at Uncle James." Hermione chided.

Sirius chuckled in response.

After five minutes on the pony, Hermione had fallen in love with it and Sirius, with no prompting, bought it for her.

The next picture was of the "cake" she and Harry had tried to make for him on his birthday. Well, Hermione tried to make it and Harry kept getting "in the way." James was supposed to be supervising it.

The cake was the color of baby-poo, lopsided, and lumpy. When Remus placed it on the table, trying to suppress a laugh, Hermione looked at Sirius with an apologetic look.

"I know it looks funny, but I tried my best. There's only so much a girl can do with Harry and Uncle James always in the way."

Sirius laughed and told her it was alright. He cut a piece for himself and James and Remus gave him an "are-you-serious?" look as he took a bite. Sure it looked funny, but it tasted like regular cake. After much prompting, the other two men cut a piece for each of them and James cut a small piece for harry, who threw it in James' face.

Sirius smiled fondly as his eyes washed over the other pictures and he made his way to the "office", passing Harry's room on the way, where James had enlisted Remus' help in trying to get the six year old boy dressed for bed. They were currently chasing the naked boy around the room. James got the kind of kid he deserved and Sirius didn't know what he had done to deserve Hermione. She was his little angel, his princess, his perfect daughter who never did anything wrong. He had to have done something to deserve his girl. Maybe it was the fact that he fought with all he had to keep her when her mom left. Whatever it was, he was thankful for it. He shook his head as Harry had an accidental bout of magic, knocking a bookcase over, barely missing James.

"Do we have any Sleeping Potion left?" Sirius heard Remus ask as he continued on his way to the "office".

"You're done putting Hermione down already?" James asked, seeing Sirius.

Sirius just smiled in response and went back to his half of the papers he and Remus had received from the seventh years.

Sweet 16 today
She's lookin' like her mama a little more every day
One part woman the other part girl
To perfume and make up from ribbons and curls
Trying her wings out in a great big world
But I remember
Butterfly kisses after bedtime prayer
Stickin' little white flowers all up in her hair
You know how much I love you daddy
But if you don't mind
I'm only gonna kiss you on the cheek this time
Oh with all that I've done wrong
I must have done something right
To deserve her love every mornin'
And butterfly kisses at night
All the precious time
Like the wind the years go by
Precious butterfly
Spread your wings and fly

It was Hermione's sixteenth birthday today and the Marauders and Harry gathered around her as she made a wish and blew out the candles on the special cake that Kreature had made for her. They cheered as the lights came back up and Sirius caught a glimpse of her mother. It started out subtly, but as time went on, Sirius would notice a flash of Ana cross Hermione's face or Hermione would give him a look that Ana had given him frequently and she would look just like her mother.

"I'll give you your birthday spankings later tonight, love." Harry whispered to her, earning a deep blush from Hermione, a laugh from James and Remus, and a glower from Sirius. It seemed like only yesterday that she would come back from spending the day with Andromeda's with her hair in braids, with pink ribbons woven in them; and now she was wearing make-up and perfume almost every day, it wasn't a drastic change but it was forcing Sirius to see that his baby girl wasn't a baby anymore.

On her and Harry's first date in their third year, she turned to Sirius, "I have to go; I'm meeting Harry to go down to Hogsmeade."

"You two have fun." Sirius smiled.

"We will." Hermione pressed a kiss to his cheek, a first.

As she ran down the hall, meeting Harry halfway, Sirius stood at the portrait hole in shock, trying to figure out where everything changed. When did his little girl start growing up?

When she and Harry became an official couple and then, later, engaged, Sirius couldn't help but notice just how grown up she was.

When he went to help her pick out her wedding dress with Andromeda and Tonks, he quickly figured out that she was a woman. She was like a caterpillar that had just emerged from its cocoon a beautiful butterfly, spreading its wings for the first time and flying away. She was only seventeen and she was getting ready to move onto the next stage in her life, it was almost too much. He had had to step out of the show room to compose himself while she was changing into the next dress. No matter how tight he wanted to hold on, she was growing up and he was going to have to let go of her two weeks after she and Harry graduated from Hogwarts.

She'll change her name today
She'll make a promise and I'll give her aways
Standing in the bride room just staring at her
She asked me what I'm thinkin'
And I said I'm not sure
I just feel like I'm loosin' my baby girl
And she leaned over
Gave me butterfly kisses with her mama there
Stickin' little white flowers all up in her hair
Walk me down the aisle daddy
It's just about time
Does my wedding gown look pretty daddy?
Daddy's don't cry
Oh with all that I've done wrong
I must have done something right
To deserve her love every mornin'
And butterfly kisses

It was her wedding day, the day Sirius had been dreading since she and Harry were at least a year old, when it became clear what was evitable. As he watched her getting the final touches on her hair done by Tonks and Luna as Susan finished applying her make-up, he walked into the bride's room. A few minutes later, she stood and made the necessary adjustments to her dress. With an excited smile, she hugged Tonks, her maid of honor, tightly, both the girls laughing. James popped her head into the announcing that everyone was there. Tonks left the room to get in her position and Hermione slowly turned to face her dad.

"Hi, daddy." Hermione beamed.

"Hey, baby." Sirius tried to smile but it didn't quite reach his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know, maybe it's the fact that you're all grown up and in a couple minutes, I'll be giving you away to Harry Potter, the boy who attracts all things dangerous."

Hermione laughed and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, "I'll always be your baby girl."

"I love you." Sirius pulled her close, hugging her tightly.

"I love you, too, daddy." Hermione replied, burying her face in his chest and hugging him just as tight.

After a minute they pulled apart, "It's almost time."

They left the room and made their way to the Entrance Hall of Hogwarts, where Tonks stood with Harry's best man, Neville, Luna with Dean, and Susan with Seamus, all waiting for Hermione's word to start the procession.

Hermione looked up at Sirius and saw the tears, laughing she said, "Don't cry, daddy, you'll make me start."

Sirius laughed and it was time for him to bring Hermione down the aisle created in the Great Hall. He had to suppress the urge to laugh when he saw the barely concealed smirk she sent Ginny as they passed the Weasley family.

When they reached Harry, he gave him her hand and took his seat next to James and Remus who offered up comforting smiles. Throughout the ceremony, Sirius replayed his memories of Hermione's life until this point, knowing that it was all leading up to this day.

He had done nothing in his life to ever deserve a daughter as perfect as Hermione, but he thanked Merlin every day that Ana had let him keep her.

I couldn't ask God for more than this is what love is
I know I've got to let her go but I'll always remember
Every hug in the mornin' and butterfly kisses