A/N: Thanks to all of you that have been reviewing. I've been a fanfic writer for a long time (not everything his archived here, since my stuff has been - ahem, a little naughty at times when I write my characters ;) ), and this was my first HP shot. I adore the characters and see them for more than what is written by JK.

My only fear is that in the beginning, I don't want to make them look too cutesy. Any of the characters. So, the challenge for writing it, is crossing of generations. Love your comments, they ARE helpful (ahem, like the blonde hair thing).

PadfootIsMine: I solemnly swear that I will not involve any time turners ;):

Rane: Love action, will occur, my dear. Patience is a virtue. ;)

Chapter 3 - Soccer and Snowballs

The twilight hours of morning carried the terrifying sounds of a muggle circus just coming into town. Complete with high pitched screams, low bellowing speeches, strange animal noises and just unexplained sounds that no wizard ear could determine their owner.

As Sirius neared the kitchen from swinging around the banister on the ground floor, he mumbled something under his breath to his mother's portrait. Whether it was respectful, disrespectful, or just habit, only he would know what was said. The unexplained circus sounds that he had heard from the comforts of his own bed had regained their full volume and had actually been the general household, all having their morning tea and coffee.

With his bathrobe half untied and his hair unkempt, Sirius waded through the sea of people sitting around the table, standing around the counter and generally making his way to the hot water to start his tea. Several good mornings were thrown his way, but it was just too early to be cheerful and smiley at that time. He loved having his family and friends around, but life in solitude did have it's perks now and then.

Molly walked past her cousin and gave him a once over look, she lightly tapped him on the shoulder and gave him a signal to close his robe. He wasn't revealing anything, except for his toned chest and hard tattoos he had from prison. They weren't the best to soften his appearance, but Sirius gave her a good eye rolling and did as she signaled.

He turned around, fastening the belt properly and took a look at everyone in their similar attire. His favorite godson was the closest to him and he couldn't help but stretch an arm over and mess with his hair. Nervous as anything with the sudden contact, Harry quickly shooed Sirius's hand away, insisting that his hair was just fine, and it was more to say than the mop that was on his head.

Sirius cleared his throat and turned his attention back to his hot water and slowly, but carefully, began to fix his tea as his eyes continued to adjust to the sunlight creeping in from outside the windows.

He felt someone coming closer to him, so he moved over slightly to let them have their way in to start their morning routine with caffeine. Not noticing just yet who had joined him, he heard Ron from behind him.

"Hermione, have you gone and done something to your hair? I swear something has changed." he said, only giving her a quick glance to check her out.

She shrugged him off and stood somewhat close to Sirius as he was the one hording most of the counter space for tea, "No Ronald, nothings changed since last night."

"But, maybe it was darker?"

"Nothing has changed. I'm not Tonks, Ron." and she returned her attention to the hot tea and the man who was already taking a cup from the cupboard for her.

Sirius set down the cup before her, and her hands quickly wrapped themselves around it, as the custom was to warm your hands around a cup, hot or cold, filled or empty, it was just habit for us. He said nothing to her…just yet. Sirius cleared his throat, waiting for her to say something, but instead, he felt her just touch him slightly as her arm brushed up next to his. He poured the kettle for her and waited until she stopped him. One was waiting for the other to say something, because it was a dramatic change from the night before and it warmed Sirius to know that he may or may not have been the cause for it.

He set the kettle down and offered her sugar cubes as she delicately took one by one to add them to the hot swirling liquid before her.

"I take it you're not going to say anything at all this morning?" he asked, keeping his voice low and only for her to hear.

Finally, her mouth cracked a subtle grin as she stirred her tea, "Don't even say a word about it."

Sirius smiled, returning his attention to his own tea, licking his lips and thinking of something sarcastic to say. "You are much prettier as a brunette, by the way."

"You're just saying that, because you have to." she shook her head a bit and teasingly pushed against him.

"Well, yes, maybe." he joked, smiling to see that her face gave him a half shocked look, but she knew he was kidding.

"Sirius Black, you are not a gentleman."

"I told you." he winked, "I'm a convicted killer," he pretended to bite the air, "I'm a mad man," he looked all around the room with his eyes, "I'm a -"

"-nice guy." she interrupted, not letting him go too far with his alter ego.

Sirius held his tongue and watched her as she added those kind words, knowing that she was being sincere. As he heard Harry calling his name, he said no more, but mouthed to her 'thank you' and turned around to lean against the counter.

The day progressed with the two eldest Weasley brothers taking all the boys out to the park down the street to play a bit of American muggle soccer. Pretty much the same as English football, only the Americans don't explain it very well when it comes to the ball actually coming in contact with your foot, rather than tossing it, passing it and holding it to a particular goal.

Ginny and Hermione joined in on the game later, with Hermione actually showing the boys the proper American way to the scoring and game play. Granted, she did admit that all she really knew about the American game consisted of a few afternoons flipping through stations, a bad date gone wrong when it was an afternoon spent watching it with several guys and a show on muggle television called, "Friends".

But, once the game had started, there was no stopping the youngest Order members. The long time friends had no problem falling into the chilled grown, taking tackles and getting absolutely filthy like eight year olds. Hermione saw a few good opportunities to cheat by grabbing Bill's pony tail, thinking it was Ginny's!

"Molly is going to kill each and every one of you!" a familiar teacher's voice called over the crazy mob.

All the faces turned as they saw Remus and Sirius standing up on the side walk, looking down at the crew in the park. The way the layout of the park stood was that the overall park was somewhat sunken, several swings and monkey bars hanging about, and behind the open space they had decided to play their game in, lied a small wooded area, dark enough to hide anyone that wanting to go creeping about.

The cold grass below them had light trickles of fallen snow that had been mashed into the ground from tennis shoes. The place they had decided to play was evident as they had left an obvious game circle in the middle of the park.

Still not saying anything, but merely tucking his jacket closer to his body, Sirius nudged Remus and added, "Come off, Remus. They're having a good time. I'm sure you can't remember the last time you got dirty?"

"Oh, I have my fun, Padfoot. But, their mother is going to kill them."

"I'm sure you can come up with something, old chap? Something to clean them up a bit?"

"Sirius, we can't do it here. Someone might see."

"Oh, come on. You're such a fast wizard, no one would even be done blinking an eye before they realized that these delinquents were dirty than clean. Unless…" he sneered in fun, "Unless, I'll just have to have Hermione do it, instead. I know she'll know a spell right off the top of her pretty young head." he baited his friend, watching him hold his glare, ready for Remus to crack any moment, "Yes, I'm sure she could. Top in her class, that one. Even gave my Harry a good run for his money…she'll probably make a good professor someday, if she ever decides to take it that far…"

"Fine, fine, Sirius. Go get neutered or something." and with his next breath, he quickly took out his wand from his pocket and swished and flicked it so fast, you'd never have known it left his pants pocket.

The kids were just walking up towards the remaining Marauders when they looked down to see their clothes refreshed, white and unstained. A general chuckle was heard over the group as they retreated back to 12 Grimmauld Place, just up the street.

Hermione saw Sirius lag behind, letting everyone go before him in the small little mob. The thought came across her to join him in the back, just to make small talk, but thought it to be too presumptuous.

Instead, she made small talk with the others in front of him, giving Sirius a quick look back every now and then in her conversation.

Sirius took his time keeping up with the general group, taking in the tranquil fresh air around him in his childhood neighborhood. He watched as normal muggle families welcomed their kids home, some were hanging final decorations up outside on their houses, Christmas trees were still being dragged down the sidewalks leaving needles behind, and above all of that, there seemed to be a kind of peace in the air.

Had the normal people around them known what had just happened with the fall of Voldemort? Had they even had an inkling to who Harry Potter was, the boy who lived, and the godfather of his that was convicted of giving up his parents? Whatever the answer was to any of his quiet questions, it didn't matter.

What mattered now was the way the wind shifted around him, and how his shoulder length hair blew around his face. Sirius hadn't truly been outside enjoying the weather, the days, or even life fairly. He'd lived his life as an outlaw, and outcast, and this new world around him was going to take a bit of getting used to. His loneliness had set in and he knew forever, there'd be a reputation that followed him wherever he was - just like Harry. At least he had Harry, they could both live their lives as the celebrities they hated to be, hoping that whomever wanted to know them, wouldn't judge them.

Sirius was just watching another muggle across the street take notice to the gaggle of people causing noise discussing Quidditch and wondering what keywords he was picking up from them. "Brooms", "seekers", and "quaffles" were enough words to make anyone wrinkle their noses in confusion. As he smirked to himself, he looked up at the group before him. He saw Hermione glance back briefly from talking with Charlie and gave him a quick smile.

She wondered to herself if then was a good time to make small talk, as she saw that he was far deep in thought over things. As Bill started to interrupt them, Charlie gave his full attention to his brother, giving Hermione time to slip behind and walk next to Sirius.

As their steps started in unison, she nudged him a bit to ask if he was okay. He playfully nudged her back, careful to not force her too hard since she was somewhat smaller than he was. Taking it in stride, she removed her hands from her pockets, preparing herself for a light revenge of the little shoving match Sirius had just started.

She bit the corner of her lip, keeping her eyes steady on the sidewalk before her. His gentle pushing, his careful thinking with her, had arose a curious question in her - had he been flirting with her?

Surely not.

So, to test the waters, she went ahead and finished her little game he started, and gently shoved him back, causing him to nearly lose his balance as her hesitance held a bit and her timing was off. Nearly taking herself to the ground with him, she quickly reached out, throwing her arms around his waist and holding onto him tightly. He held onto her, carefully steadying himself over the slippery sidewalk, letting the rest of the group walk ahead of them.

"That was close, Granger. You almost had a good payment coming to you, had you forced me to fall." he said, releasing the hold on Hermione that seemed to prove a bit closer than what either was used to.

She chuckled a little, looking up at him and smiled, carefully throwing her curls out of her way a bit, causing them to bounce gracefully on her back, "You're all talk, Black." and she released her grip on him.

"That's what you think. I'll have you know that I was a very good wizard at one time in my life that I could have sent you packing."

"Don't make me laugh, Sirius." she smiled, counting the broken cracks on the sidewalk to distract her mind a little.

"I could make you cry," he turned.

She shook her head, "No, don't do that."

He paused a moment, thinking that was going to start something somber with him, so he found an obvious outlet for said poor conversation, "Then, I'll make you mad."

And before the poor girl could even say "how" Sirius had carefully run a hand over some cars' roofs and scraped up enough snow to toss it at the pretty brunette, causing her cheeks to flush that for the first time, giving Sirius a chill.

Hermione froze in her tracks, her head tilting down to look at the snow damage. She shook her head, slowly turning her flames in the Marauder's direction and whispered, "Sirius, you are so dead…" and like a cheetah, she took off sprinting after the man that called himself a true dog.

Sirius Black gave a look of worry that he hadn't displayed since the time he fell through the veil. Both times, that look was given to a beautiful woman that had it out for him…and running through the group of friends, this was going to be the last time he tried a lady.

His body pressed on, hearing the laughing screams from Hermione behind him, she stopped briefly to arm herself with a good size snow ball she had made by using Sirius's idea of scraping the snow off the car roofs. She followed him behind the last house on the corner, causing the two of them to go out of sight from the group.

Hermione ran after him, fist balled with a snowball in one hand and the other using the momentum she gained from running quick on his heel down the sidewalk. The cold air brushed over her face, causing her curls to bounce all around her. As she rounded the corner, the breath nearly escaped her as she was grabbed by her lower arms and swung against the side wall of the house, out of view from everyone.

Sirius pinned her to the wall, careful not to press her too hard, and carried on with his laughing and catching of breath. "Hermione, I command you to drop the snow ball."

She shook her head violently, "No, not on your life. It's going on you. This is your snowball. Let me go, so I can kindly stick it in your face," she laughed, squirmy with very little might.

He shook his head and pressed closer to her, forcing his face about seven inches from her face as he struggled. He was so close, she could make out the slight stubble on his face and the light shadow it reflected on him, making him look even more handsome than he already was.

He was handsome.

It had just donned on Hermione that Sirius Black, the man that was pressed close against her, out of breath, was starting to peak out of the old self he once was. The playfulness had returned. The ability to be comfortable, outside of all places, with familiar faces had caused a bit of the old Marauder to come out and play. But, as he fought against her, no magic involved, he turned in towards her and looked down at her state.

She was beautiful and soft looking. Her skin radiated a glow that he honestly wanted to take off his glove, if his hand wasn't holding her arms, and lay a palm on her cheek. But, he quickly turned away and focused on the snowball. He shouldn't even be having these thoughts. He shouldn't even be looking at, of all people, Hermione that way for she was entirely too young and out of his league. The fact that she was his godson's best friend wasn't so much an issue as it was the age. But, her age and mental state of mind were no where near it should be. Her beautiful mind aged her at least another fifteen years of knowledge, forcing her to be more mature than most women her age, causing here to be nearly an equal to Sirius. But, then again, Sirius had the intelligence, but the mentality of a twenty year old.

Which maybe…it could work.

He turned his face back towards her, seeing that her eyes never left his, but her struggle began to subside. "Hermione, I'm going to let you go and I want you to drop the snowball."

Hermione closed her eyes for a split second too long when he said her name, and she knew that he caught it. His voice to her was low and rough, but smooth enough to make your hair curl. She found herself parting her lips just so, letting her brain take over her body. Sirius began to let up on his hold, but his body did not change it's distance from her. Instead, he kept looking down at her, his deep dark eyes searching her face for something, anything, an answer. What was she thinking when she looked at him?

Believing that the moment might have gotten away from them, she dropped the snowball, hearing a good thump on the ground as the bundled snow released. She blinked her eyes a few times to relieve herself from the light trance she had put herself in and Sirius got the hint, as well. He completely let go of her and just stared at her in disbelief. What had just happened? Would she tell Harry? Would she tell anyone, for that matter? What would this do to them?

She saw his nervous look take over his body and she didn't want him to think that way. It was both of them that caused that moment. It wasn't just him, it wasn't anything wrong, in fact, if felt pretty damn good.

As Hermione started to walk, Sirius just stood with himself, staring off into the space that Hermione had just left. Knowing that that particular brick was not that interesting, she reached over and took his gloved hand with hers. He looked up, as if taking himself out of a trance, and looked down at their joined hands.

"Come on." she whispered, trying to get him to move from his stationed spot and rejoin the crew who were probably already in the house.

"Hermione, wait." he called, not moving.

She lightly shook her head, not wanting him to discuss anything. Instead, she just gave him a slight smile and said, "I changed my hair color, because of you."

With that, no words were said, and he let Hermione lead him back around the corner on back onto the cobblestone street of Grimmauld. She held onto his hand lightly, until they reached the door and pushed on through.