"What's it like, Remus?" asked Sirius.

"What's what like?" he replied.

"Having her love you," Sirius said.

Remus sighed and set down his copy of The Daily Prophet.

"She doesn't love me, Padfoot," answered Remus.

"She does," he pouted.

"Even if she does love me," Remus said coolly, picking his paper back up, "you're the one she fucks."

The witch in question was, of course, none other than Hermione Granger. The three of them shared residence at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, for Harry and Ginny were already married and living together in a cottage outside London and Ron had returned to the Burrow to live with his family.

Hermione and Remus both worked at the book shop in Diagon Alley, while Sirius stayed home and kept the house. The charges against him had been cleared after everything was over, but he had such an endless supply of Black family inheritance that he didn't bother to find a job. The three of them rattled around in the old house, which had become far more friendly and liveable since Sirius began putting his heart into the efforts of cleaning.

And since not long after she had moved in with the pair of bachelors, Hermione had begun to find release and relaxation in the arms of Sirius Black. He was gorgeous, there was no doubt about that. Striking grey eyes, aristocratic features, long black hair, and broad, muscular shoulders gave him the classically handsome look he wore so well. He was proud but not haughty, wealthy but without snobbery. He was the sort of wizard any girl would find attractive, and it wasn't difficult for Hermione Granger to fall into bed with him.

Remus had been jealous from the start.

Unlike his best friend, Remus was shy, reserved, thoughtful, and patient. He had shaggy, sandy hair that hung just past his ears and warm amber eyes. He was taller than Sirius, but narrower, and his robes and clothes were secondhand, unlike Sirius's new and impeccable taste in fashion.

But although Hermione had never been physically intimate with Remus, she had given him a different sort of intimacy. They were close. Closer than she was with Sirius. There was rarely a night at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place that didn't end with Remus and Hermione snuggled up on the couch reading or talking or just sitting together.

So, there you have it. Sirius and Remus both held deep feelings for their younger, significantly more female roommate, but neither could precisely pinpoint what those feelings were. And Hermione? Well, that will come in time.