"You can't be serious." she chided.

"No, but I am." a rough, low voice said from behind turned away from a messy bookshelf to look at the handsome older man before her. Sirius Black, no less. He was in his usual old-fashioned attire. Looking rather dapper, thought Hermione,
glancing over him quickly. He was smiling warmly at her. "What seems to be the problem, kitten?"

Hermione ignored the warm, intense spike of lust in her stomach and turned back to the bookshelf. "They're a mess. The books. None of them are in alphabetical order and some have been put in backwards. Look!" she pointed to a book with all the pages facing
outward and she righted it, along with 6 others. "Who would do this?" she muttered.

"Here let me help you." Sirius walked forward and stood right beside Hermione and started piling books up on the floor. Hermione stopped correcting books and watched Sirius.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Better to start from scratch." he said, taking more books off. Hermione copied him, piling books behind her.

"Right," Sirius stood up straight and glanced at all the books on the ground. The bookshelf was completely bare. "Wow, it's warm in here, don't you think?" he shook his jacket off and chucked it across the room to land on the sofa.

Oh, please take more off, Hermione thought, staring at his body, which was slimmer than she remembered but looked stunning in his mismatched suit.

"Yes, it is." Hermione whispered, still unable to take her eyes off him.

He turned to her and she quickly averted her gaze to his face, sure that a pink blush was covering her cheeks. A mere glimmer of a smile tugged at his mouth but she saw it. "Gather all books with the Author's surnames beginning with A." he then got onto
his hands and knees in front of the books, pulling out seemingly random ones.

She shook her head, in an attempt to clear her mind and turned to her books. She gathered what she could and turned back to the shelf. Sirius had put at least 5 books at the very top when Hermione handed 4 books over. She watched as Sirius arranged the
books properly. She watched as he stretched and moved his thin frame. She was staring at his firm buttocks when he suddenly turned to her. This time he laughed, a low chuckle, deep in his throat.

"You all right, kitten? You look a little flushed." he smirked at her. Hermione's heart began to race. His eyesboring into hers made her brain go fuzzy.

"I'm fine." Sheturned to her books to receive the B's. She was tempted to just admit she was staring at his ass, but for some reason decided against it.

"Hey. I was only messing with you. Hermione…" he placed a hand on her back and she froze.

She got up off the floor and turned to face him. He was far closer than she realised. Her breath caught but she didn't move. "If you must know," she paused, daring herself to just say it, "I was thinking that you looked good. In your suit." she had twisted
the truth but nonetheless, she had said it.

"Oh." he looked genuinely surprised by her comment. "Thank you very much." He glanced down at himself. "It's an old suit I found in my wardrobe. I lost rather a lot of weight in Azkaban, as you can imagine, so it's rather loose on me." Hepatted
down his waistcoat as if to check it hadn't changed size.

"It looks good on you." she said, looking at his waistcoat where his hand still rested.

"Glad you think so." he spoke softly, quietly, like the air had changed, like an elephant had started to grow within the room and when she looked at him he was staring into her eyes, unblinking. Her palms grew sweaty but she felt more confident than before
and she figured it might have been because she felt she had finally admitted something deep to him.

She reached out and touched the fabric of his waistcoat. She wanted to comment on it, maybe. Find an excuse to keep talking but the words got stuck in her throat and her hand lingered on his chest. She could feel his gaze on her face so she looked up.
To her, they had seemed to move closer to each other.

"Hermione." Sirius stuttered on her name slightly. Her hand stayed still as she looked into his eyes. "I have to ask and I'm sorry if I'm wrong but given the circumstances I feel I must. Do you… Do you have feelings for me, Hermione?"

Her heart jumped into her throat. Yes, she did. She very much did but her words stayed in her throat. She cleared it. "Yes." A quiet reply, barely a whisper escaped her lips. Her face felt hot and stifled and the elephant in the room didn't go away.

He placed a hand over hers, on his chest and held it there. "I thought so." he whispered back. A short moment passed. "You know it can never happen, don't you?"

Her heart sank, deep in her stomach. She stared into his eyes and couldn't move. He was breaking her heart.

"I'm…I'm much older than you. I mean, you… You're barely…" He stumbled for the right words yet he still held her hand.

"I'm nineteen in 3 months. I'm of age." Her voice came out hard and loud and slightly cold. He was not going to do this to her while he held her hand so protectively.

"But I am 42, Hermione. More than twice your age. It wouldn't be-"

"Appropriate?" Hermione finished. She tugged her hand from under his, anger and hurt boiling inside her. "What's really stopping you? I'm eighteen. I've wanted you for as long as I can remember and now I am of legal age and yes, I'm aware of yours. I
am fully aware but that doesn't stop me from wanting you, Sirius." she turned away. She could feel the sting of tears in her eyes, feeling all of her pent-up emotion for him spilling out.

Sirius just stood still as a post, looking at the woman before him, confessing her feelings. "You can't do this to me, Sirius. You can't. I couldn't… I don't want…"She turned to face him. "I love you, okay? I have for years and I've been too scared
to say anything in case-"

Sirius held up a hand. "Wait, you love me?" he whispered, slowly lowering his hand. He took a tentative step toward her so they were mere inches apart. Hermione glanced upward at him, hoping he'll say he loves her too. Hoping against hope he'll at least
reach down and kiss her!

"Yes, I do." She said, firmly, reaching up to wrap her arms around Sirius' neck. His body stiffened up, not sure if he should let her touch him but then he loosened slightly and opened his mouth. He closed it and then opened it once more, unable to think
of anything to say.

Finally, "why?"

"You're kind, sweet, handsome, funny, sexy and…I just think you're pretty amazing in general. Is that so terrible?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, it's not. I don't see any of that but…I'm surprised someone else does."

"It shouldn't. You could get any woman you wanted, I'm sure." She whispered. She was pressed against him with her arms around his neck. He had barely moved. She guessed, hoped, prayed he was considering her.

He laughed loudly and Hermione flinched at the sudden thunderous laugh reverberating in his chest. He stopped as quickly as he had started laughing. "Me? Now? I'm old, Hermione. I'm old and frayed at the edges and damaged. It's been a very long since
I was with a woman."

"Even so, I'd still love to spend the rest of my life with you. However frayed and old and damaged to say you are." she leaned up then, on tiptoes to kiss him. Sirius glanced down at her mouth and leaned forward too, slowly, unsure.

When their lips touched, electricity shot through Hermione's nerves, shocking the situation into clarity. Sirius must have felt something too because he wrapped his arms around Hermione's waist and pulled her closer, kissing her deeper.

A moment later they broke off, both breathing heavily. Sirius kept his hands on her waist and she kept her arms around his neck.

"Maybe we should finish sorting the books first." he whispered but Hermione saw the desire in his eyes, the want and need to feel loved again. And oh, did she love him.