I do not own Harry Potter it all belongs to J.K

New World Old Values

Chapter Seven

The carriage itself was quite beautiful and spacious. It was a dark mahogany color, with a white velvet bench for the driver to sit upon and control the two white stallions. Inside the carriage were two long white velvet benches. Sirius helped Hermione get into the carriage and she sat on the bench behind the driver. She didn't know what was expected of her now or how Sirius would act when there was no one else around them it was going to be an interesting but scary honeymoon. Sirius watched her from the other side of the carriage and wondered what she was thinking.

"Are you well My Lady?" he asked quietly so that he wouldn't scare her but she jumped anyway and looked at him.

"I am fine My Lord, why do you ask?"

"I saw the way you reacted to your aunt and uncle and just wanted to know that you are ok."

"I'm fine." She turned away from him and looked back out the window.

"I am sorry, My Lady to keep bugging you about this but it didn't look as if you were fine when speaking to them." Hermione looked at Sirius once again.

"My Lord I am glad that you are interested in my well being but I promise you that I am fine." Sirius nodded his head he knew that she was just as uncomfortable as he was but the quietness was getting to him.

"Is there anything that you would like to do on our trip My Lady?" Hermione looked back at him and looked into his eyes.

"I wouldn't know what to do My Lord, being as that I have never left the country let alone my uncle's home until recently." He nodded his head. He should have thought of that.

"There are some places that I would like to show you My Lady but if there is anything that you would like to do in France please let me know." He watched Hermione's eyes light up.

"We are going to France? I've always wanted to go to France. I have read many books on the country and whenever things got…hard I would always imagine myself there."

"Your cousin Harry told me that you had always wanted to go there so I thought that it would be the perfect place to take you to."

"Thank you My Lord it was very kind of you." Hermione sighed, closed her eyes and sat back against the carriage wall. If Sirius didn't start using her name, she was going to snap at him and she really didn't want to do that. They were both quite for a few minutes when they hit a bump in the road causing Hermione to slam into the wall. She gasped from the pain and immediately Sirius' head was out the window yelling at the driver.

"It's all right, Sirius it wasn't his fault please don't yell at him." Sirius brought his head back into the carriage and looked at Hermione. The way she said his name sent chills down his spine. Never before had his name coming out of a woman's mouth sounded so good.

"What do you mean?"

"I have bruises on my back it wasn't the drivers fault." Sirius frowned.

"What do you have bruises on your back for?" Hermione looked at the floor of the carriage.

"You know what it was like for Harry in my uncle's house?" Sirius nodded his head his jaw immediately tightened. "It was the same only, because he betrothed me to you he didn't hit my face so that you couldn't see the bruises." She looked up at him, could see the anger in his eyes, and thought that it was aimed towards her. "Please don't be angry with me. I know that I should have told you about my bruises and that I am damaged goods but I saw you as the only way to get away from them." Hermione started to cry ashamed that she had not told him from the beginning about her uncle. Sirius looked at Hermione and noticed that she was crying so he carefully and gently moved to her and wrapped his arm around her.

"I am not angry with you Hermione. It is not your fault what your uncle did to you. Harry had mentioned to me that you were in the same condition as he was, I guess I didn't really think it was possible once I met you that someone could treat you like that."

Hermione smiled at him. "You don't know me yet, My Lord."

Sirius smiled at her.

"I will soon enough, and it's Sirius we are married after all." Hermione smiled and moved closer to him. It looked like things were going to start getting better. At least now, she had his permission to call him Sirius, at least in private anyway.

It took at least two hours to get to their hotel in Paris and Hermione fell asleep next to Sirius with her head on his shoulder. Sirius stayed awake and watched her sleep. She was a very beautiful young woman but not just on the outside, but on the inside too it seemed. He remembered a story Harry had told him about her how she saved a little puppy from being killed because her uncle didn't want it anywhere near his home. She had kept the puppy in the barn with the other animals and each day made sure that it was fed properly. Sirius wondered whatever happened to the animal, if Hermione had been caught or what. He hoped that she would not keep things from him and tell him everything about her; at least once she got to know him better. Sirius felt the carriage start to slow down, he held onto Hermione a bit tighter so that she wouldn't slam into the carriage wall when it finally stopped. Sirius gently shook her awake so that she could walk out of the carriage herself.

Hermione rubbed her eyes and looked at Sirius. "We are there already?"

"Yes, I need you to walk into the hotel and once we get into or room you can change into your sleepwear and get into bed. I have some work to do yet tonight." Hermione nodded her head and waited for him to get out of the carriage so that she could follow him when they stepped into the hotel Hermione gasped at the beauty. A light gold color was everywhere. There was a very large chandelier with diamond like tear drops hanging from it Hermione moved closer to Sirius in case the chandelier fell. Sirius noticed this and smiled softly once he had them signed in he took her up to their room so that she could get ready for bed. When they stepped into the door of their rooms Hermione stopped to admire it, but Sirius gently pushed her further into the room.

"You can look at the room tomorrow. You are tired and need to get some sleep. I have some business to attend to so you can just change in here and not have to worry about me seeing anything. I will be out late so I will see you in the morning." Hermione frowned, turned towards him and nodded her head she couldn't believe that her husband was leaving her on their first night together. Could he be going to see another woman? Sirius moved closer to her and gently lifted a hand to her face.

"I promise you it is just work. I would not leave you for another woman on our wedding night I promise you that. Do you trust me?" Hermione really wanted to trust him but she didn't know him how could she trust him when she didn't really know him? Harry trusted him so should she. She slowly nodded her head and watched him walk out of the door Hermione turned towards the red silk bed and started to get to the task of taking off her dress. She should have asked Sirius to unzip it for her, oh well she would just have to figure something else on her own. It took her twenty minutes before she finally got her wedding dress off. She hung it up in the closet and looked for her sleepwear she found a long blue spaghetti strap nightdress. It was a little revealing in the back. It didn't cover her bruises so she looked for something else in the closet. She found a long white men's shirt made out of cotton so she slipped it on. Hopefully, Sirius wouldn't be to angry at her for wearing her shirt but she didn't want him to see her bruises yet. She slowly crawled into the bed and quickly fell asleep trying not to think about what her husband had said before he left to do his work but the words kept echoing in her mind. I promise you it is jut work I would not leave you for another woman on our wedding night. He never did say that he wouldn't sleep with another woman period. Oh well, what was she really supposed to expect from their marriage anyway?

Sirius entered the hotel at three in the morning. He had to meet with some members of his broom company and it took so much longer than he had wanted. Leaving his new wife on his wedding night was a huge mistake. Sirius entered the room quietly and saw her sleeping at the edge of the bed. He smiled softly and then continued to take off his jacket and hang it up in the wardrobe. He went through the clothes and noticed that her nightgown was still in there and he was missing one of his shirts. Sirius went to the small dresser and looked around for his lounge pants. When he found them, he slipped them on then crawled into the bed. He turned towards Hermione so that he could watch her sleep. She was really quite beautiful not the drop dead gorgeous type but she was still beautiful. He wanted to pull her towards him and hold onto her but because of what had happened with her uncle. He had this urge to protect her, take care of her, to never let anything happen to her and it scared the hell out of him. So he stayed on his side of the bed and let sleep overtake him.

Hermione was running so hard and fast that she couldn't breathe. She had to get away from her uncle she had to keep running, had to survive and get away before he got her, and beat her again. She couldn't let him beat her again. So Hermione kept on running and made it to a forest where she knew that she would possibly be safe. She looked behind her to see if her uncle was behind her and tripped on a log she fell face down and scraped up her hands and elbows. She looked up and screamed into the face of her uncle. And everything went black.

Hermione bolted up in the bed breathing deeply and looking wildly around the room. It took her a few moments to remember where she was. She closed her eyes and tried to shake the memory from her mind she looked at the palm of her right hand and could still see a faint scar from when she had fell. Hermione felt the blankets shift and glanced at Sirius he was sitting up and looking at her curiously. She lay back down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. She was definitely not going to be able to sleep, once she had that dream she never could. Sirius watched her for a few minutes before speaking.

"Are you well, Hermione?" He watched her as she nodded her head and kept her gaze on the ceiling. "Do you want to talk about it?" she shook her head, turned away from him and closed her eyes. Sirius decided that now would be the time to put his arm around her and cuddle her. When Hermione felt his hand around her waist, she stiffened and tried to pull away but he was too strong for her so she just let him pull her to his body.

"Relax, Hermione I won't hurt you I promise. It just seemed that you need some comforting. Maybe sometime you can tell me why you screamed when you are more comfortable with me."

"Thank you Sirius I'm sorry if I woke you." She closed her eyes and tried to get comfortable enough to fall asleep. Sirius felt her body slowly relax and let himself relax. He had less than an hour of sleep before he heard her scream and bolt up in bed. Sirius was worried about her. When he saw her calm down, he realized that it was just a dream. He just wished that she would have shared it with him Sirius sighed. Maybe someday soon she would be willing to share it with him and he could try to help her get rid of them. Sirius closed his eyes and decided to try to get some sleep it was definitely going to be needed for the day to come.

A/N: Thank you so much my dear beta you have made things so much easier for me!!! And thanks to all who have been reading my story keep up with the reviews so I know what I am doing right or wrong. Thanks!