Disclaimer: I own nothing, and I am repeatedly tried of writing disclaimers.
Summary: Sirius found it extremely hard to control his eyes; he was having an inner battle with himself to keep his eyes glued to his plate. Sirius longed to just stare at her, forever if he can.
Rating: K +
Warnings: Extreme FLUFF!
Stolen Glances
The table was full with Order members, all of them enjoying a good hearty meal made by none other than the queen of cooking herself, Molly Weasley. Bits of conversation, laughs, and quite muttering filled the table, along with the sounds of clinking utensils. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, either eating or holding conversation with the person next to them. The only person who seemed a bit out of sorts was Sirius. He was neither eating nor intertwined in conversation; instead he was busy trying to keep his prying eyes from wondering toward a certain brunette.
Sirius found it extremely hard to control his eyes; he was having an inner battle with himself to keep his eyes glued to his plate. Sirius longed to just stare at her, forever if he can. He felt light, relaxed, and for some apparent reason at ease when he looked at her. He didn't know when his attraction for her started; it was around the time when Sirius finally realized that she wasn't the same buck-tooth know-it-all he always knew. He saw that she transformed into a graceful, passionate, caring and beautiful woman. Her being beautiful bypassed her physical aspects, and extended to her personality. She was just perfect, and without wanting to, Sirius fell deeply in love with her.
After Sirius miraculously escaped the Veil, he was a changed man. No longer was he the same reckless, vindictive, womanizing Marauder. Instead, he became more subtle, mature, and took control of his life and responsibilities'. The first thing he did was return the money that the Ministry awarded him for holding him prisoner for 13 years. He didn't need it, nor did he want it, Sirius planned on making a decent living. He didn't want an extraordinary life; he wanted to be as average as possible. So, he reapplied for his Auror license and went on to became the Head of the Department of Law Enforcement in less than a year.
Many would have never believed Sirius to be this ambitious, people thought that Sirius would keep his 'award' money from the Ministry and live an extravagant life filled with woman and liquor. But no, Sirius stopped drinking as well, and the number of woman he dated decreased incredibly. It wasn't as if he couldn't get woman, that wasn't the case. It's just that he wanted a woman who he can truly connect with, a woman who will become his wife, bare his children, and extend his name. After coming back from the Veil, Sirius wanted more of what life had to offer, he wanted children, he wanted a wife who he could return home to, and most of all he wanted his life filled with love.
Again, his eyes darted toward the brunette who sat next to his godson, both conversing silently. Sirius felt a jolt of jealously in the pit of his stomach as he watched the two converse silently, it irked him to no end to see Harry talk to her. He wanted nothing more than to be in Harry's place. Sirius wanted to be the one who Hermione was talking to during Order meetings, not Harry. He wanted Hermione to sit next to him, instead of Harry.
His grey eyes were still glued to her, and very painfully he watched Harry whisper something in her ear that made her blush profusely. Sirius blood boiled, and his appetite was gone. Right then Hermione's eyes found his, and she smiled at him, while Harry looked particularly smug about something. Uncertainly he returned the smile, and fought hard not to scowl at his godson.
For some reason, he felt like a teenager again, it felt oddly comforting to have Hermione give him a smile. It made his stomach pummel like the way it hadn't pummeled in 18 years. As much as he wanted to continue looking at her, he knew that she spotted his gaze, and it would be wise to look away.
Looking away, Sirius listened to the conversation that Remus was having with Bill. Which was undoubtedly was about the on-goings in Gringotts, not very eager to join the boring conversation, he turned to his plate again, which still had a large quantity of food on it.
Feeling as if he was being watched, Sirius looked up to find the bright brown eyes of Hermione Granger staring at him, but as soon as he caught her staring, she quickly looked away blushing slightly. Feeling slightly confused, Sirius turned back to his own plate, this time making sure his eyes were glued to his plate.
The rest of the dinner went by rather quickly, his eyes stopped roaming, and his mind focused on his food, although he didn't eat much. When asked why his plate was still half full, Sirius answered by saying that he felt sick.
After dinner, Order members still loitered around the dinning room, finishing the specks of their conversation, before going home, or turning in. Molly, accompanied by Hermione and a reluctant Ginny were doing the dishes in the kitchen. Feeling that it was common courtesy to help Molly, since she cooked for the Order, Sirius walked into the kitchen to help the woman with the dishes.
Taking a dirty plate from Molly's hand, Sirius ushered a smiling Molly out of the kitchen, telling her that he would gladly to all the dishes by hand. Sirius then proceeded to usher Ginny and Hermione out of the kitchen as well, Ginny left quite happily while Hermione firmly insisted that she wanted to stay and help him.
Sirius didn't like the fact that Hermione stayed to help him, he would have preferred to do it alone, plus he didn't enjoy the casual brushes against his arm, or their hands touching when they went to grab the same plate. Feeling very uncomfortable, and out of sorts Sirius finally suggested that she can dry the dishes, while Hermione washes them, and then proceeded to step far away from her as possible. It was getting hard to control himself. He didn't want her to know he was in love with her, that would have her running in the opposite directing.
When he distanced himself from Hermione, Sirius could have sworn he saw a frown on Hermione's face. Did he accidentally insult her, he hoped not.
"Sirius, are you uncomfortable around me?" he heard Hermione ask him.
In truth, he wasn't at all uncomfortable around Hermione, the problem was that he was a bit too comfortable around Hermione.
"Of course not, what are you talking about?" asked Sirius, although he knew exactly what Hermione was talking about.
Hermione frowned at him. "Well why did you feel the need to move all the way over there?" she said indicating the place where Sirius was standing.
Sirius racked his brain for an acceptable excuse before answering Hermione. "Well, I figured this way would be quicker."
Her lips twitched, Sirius could have sworn he saw a hint of amusement in her face. Sirius went back to scrubbing the dirty plates.
"How come you were so quite at dinner, Sirius?" she asked him, drying the clean plates in a circular stokes.
"Quiet? I wasn't quiet," mumbled Sirius, although he knew very well that he hardly spoke a word during dinner, nor did he did he utter a sentence in the Order meeting.
"Yes you were! You hardly said a word all evening, and didn't even eat anything. Is something bothering you Sirius?" asked Hermione, turning towards him.
Sirius let out a sigh. "Nothing is bothering me Hermione, and I wasn't all that hungry," answered Sirius facing Hermione, but refusing to meet her eyes.
Hermione's eyes flashed dangerously, "You just told me that you weren't hungry, but just minutes ago you told Molly that you were feeling sick! Which is it Sirius? What's wrong with you? And lately, you've been avoiding me. Whenever I try to talk to you, you either turn away or mutter some incoherent excuses. What is going on?" Hermione was practically yelling.
Sirius grit his teeth in frustration, she was really wasn't making this easy, he was running out of excuses. "Nothing is wrong with me! And even if I did have a problem why the hell are you so concerned?" Sirius bit out, his anger and frustration highly evident in his voice.
Hermione's eyes shined with tears, as she looked at him, and for some reason Sirius couldn't tear apart from her gaze, no matter how much he wanted to.
Without meaning to, without wanting to, without feeling himself move, he pressed his lips against Hermione's. The slightest touch of her lips made him see fireworks, he was in heaven for that lucky second, until Sirius finally realized what he was doing. He quickly pulled away, cursing himself for letting his love for Hermione get the best of him. Not wanting to look at Hermione, he turned away to walk out of the kitchen, but Sirius abruptly stopped when he felt Hermione's smaller hand in his.
A soft hand pressed against his shoulder, Sirius felt himself automatically turn. When he turned around he noticed trails of tears sliding down Hermione's face, and without a warning he felt a sharp searing pain across his cheek, and an audible smack echoed around the kitchen.
Hermione stood in front of him seething. Sirius had expected this, this was exactly the reaction he knew he would get from Hermione. He knew he deserved every inch of her fury. Sirius had no reason to fall in love with her, no reason to kiss her, no reason to want her beyond anything else.
"I can't believe you!" seethed Hermione, her watery eyes filled with fury as she looked up at Sirius, who had his head slumped down staring at his feet, clearly disgusted with himself.
"Tell me, what is wrong me? What doesn't fit into your prefect life?" asked Hermione hysterically.
Sirius looked up at her slightly confused, but didn't speak, his gaze still focused on his feet.
"I gave you every hint I can possibly think of, even Harry has tried to talk to you. But it isn't enough is it? Here I go trying to spend a little time with you, to make you realize that…" she paused tears pouring from her brown eyes. "that… that… I love you! And what do you do? You kiss me and then walk away!" cried Hermione, glaring at Sirius, who was now looking at her in shock and amazement.
"I know you care about me very much, so why are you denying yourself a chance for someone to love you back? Why Sirius?" Hermione whispered the last part, her voice going unsteadily quiet.
Sirius continued to look at her, completely unaware that his heart was threatening to hammer out of his chest. His brain refused to comprehend the fact that Hermione Granger said she loved him. The woman he had been yearning for had just admitted that she loved him. It took a while for Hermione's words to sink in, and Sirius felt as if he was the happiest man in the world.
Hermione started at him uncertainly, because Sirius' eyes were completely expressionless. Sirius had a talent of never letting his eyes show emotion, and just as Hermione was about to turn away, Sirius again pressed his soft lips hard against her.
The world stopped for the second time that day. Everything around them seemed to be spinning, it felt like time was slowing down, speeding, and stopping all at the same time. Sirius felt a queasiness in his stomach that felt as if they were both falling off a broom. After what felt like ages to them, they slowly broke apart.
They gazed into each others eyes, forgetting about anything but themselves, lost into the blissfulness of each other.
"I love you, Hermione Granger." murmured Sirius, looking directly into the muggleborn's eyes.
"And I love you, Sirius Black." whispered Hermione, a tear sliding down her red cheeks.
Sirius bent down and kissed the salty tear away. "No more," he whispered wiping the rest of her face dry with his hands.
Then quiet suddenly the sound of applause reached his ears, Sirius tore his gaze from Hermione to see most of the Order standing by the kitchen door, applauding and blowing cat whistles.
Molly was seen wiping her watery eyes, the twins both had identical smirks in their faces, Remus was grinning ear to ear, and Harry seemed the most happiest of all.
"Finally!" yelled Fred, and George let out another wolf whistle.
Sirius smiled at them, while Hermione went scarlet.
Harry was breaking from the crowd, and he stopped right in front of Sirius, looking him dead in the eye.
"That's my sister, Black. You better take care of her." said Harry in mock-anger, a grin spreading across his face.
"With everything I've got." replied Sirius sincerely, he reached for Hermione's hand and kissed it. Harry's smile grew wider.
Slowly after everyone congratulated them, Sirius and Hermione were the last ones left in Grimmauld Place. Needless to say that they used the predicament to their benefit, snogging all through the night.
A/N: Fluff…. I should shudder. As much I detest fluff, I felt like writing something happy, instead of the usual angst. Angst gets tiring after a while. Please review my first attempt at Fluff. And needless to say, I was missing Sirius/Hermione, I've been giving way to much time to Sirius/James, which meant that I have been neglecting my Sirius/Hermione fics. So there, a oneshot to keep my conscience happy.