Mr. Weasley opened the door to Number 12 Grimmauld Place with a smile. 'This is it,' he told Hermione, 'I'm sure you'll be spending quite a bit of time here over this summer. How do you like it?'
Hermione looked around. The hallway she was standing in was badly lit, with a lot of strange, unappealing furniture, including an umbrella stand which seemed to be growing hair. In the following room, there was a lot of movement but nobody she recognised. The house was not very inviting.
'I'm sure it'll be fine Mr. Weasley. Thank you. Where should I put my bags?' Hermione noticed a stairwell leading away from the entrance hallway, 'Up there?'
'Hmm, I'm not sure. Give me a moment and I'll find out.' He walked into the next room, leaving Hermione waiting. She didn't know who was in charge of the sleeping arrangements but she hoped that she wouldn't have to share a room with Percy Weasley, who she had heard had some strange habits.
She was just thinking of this and wrinkling up her nose in disgust, when Mr. Weasley re-entered the room, just ahead of another man, whom Hermione didn't think she knew. He was much taller than Mr. Weasley, and his long dark hair was a contrast with the other man's flaming orange hair. His face was half in shadow, but from what she could see he was extremely handsome, with a very strong jaw-line. Hermione was surprised that anybody so attractive existed, much less anybody standing in the same room as she was.
'Now. I don't believe you've yet met Sirius, have you Hermione?' asked Mr. Weasley, surprising her immensely.
Sirius? Well she had met Sirius Black before. In her third year at Hogwarts, she and Harry had helped him escape from the Dementors of Azkaban on the back of a Hippogriff. But the man who stood in front of her now surely was not Sirius Black. He was much too, well, too tall for one thing.
But as the man's face moved from the shadows, she could see that it was Sirius. His prominent cheekbones outlined a cheeky smile on his face. 'We've met.' His eyes met Hermione's and she felt her cheeks burning, to think that she had just been admiring this man.
Hermione didn't know what to say or do. She felt thankful that the room they were in had a limited light supply because she was sure her face was as scarlet as her Gryffindor robes. And that was definitely not what she wanted Sirius to see.
'Yes. Well Hermione wasn't sure where to take her bags so that's why I came to fetch you Sirius.' Mr. Weasley said, 'This house belongs to him, did you know Hermione?'
She shook her head and looked at him. He was looking back at her with the faintest trace of a smile distinguishable in the light.
'I'll show her up to her room Arthur. And don't worry about your bags. I can carry them.' Sirius added in Hermione's direction, as he took a long stride across the room, picking them up on his way to the stairs. 'Follow me.'
Hermione did, thanking him. Walking a step behind him, she couldn't help noticing the way his long arms looked, carrying her bags. The muscles on his upper arms were clearly defined, and from Hermione's limited experience, they were some of the best she had ever seen. She lowered her head in embarrassment when she realised what she had just been thinking about Sirius Black.
When she looked up again she noticed that they had arrived at a landing in the stairs, leading onto three doorways. 'This is where Fred and George will be sleeping,' Sirius said motioning towards the first doorway, 'and Ron and Harry when he arrives will be in this one.' Hermione made a move toward the last door, figuring that she would be sharing this one with Ginny, who she liked a lot. 'That was going to be your's and Ginny's but there was a change of plan. Percy isn't coming, which means there is a spare bedroom. If you just come up these stairs…'
Sirius had started up a much narrower flight of stairs now, which she would hardly have noticed had he not pointed them out. 'Why isn't Percy coming anymore?' asked Hermione, surprised but not saddened at the news.
'Well, since the Weasleys arrived I have heard a few colourful versions of the exact explanation. But what I think it all boils down to is that he is a prat.'
Hermione nodded her head. She didn't completely understand, but she was sure she would hear the story from Fred, George, Ron or Ginny in good time. 'Where are the Weasleys by the way?' she asked.
'Well, Arthur and Molly are downstairs. And I believe the rest are in Diagon Alley, being escorted by Dedalus Diggle, something about a joke shop,' answered Sirius, 'I'm sure they will be back within a couple of hours.'
The second landing was much smaller and squashed in than the first, Hermione noticed. Sirius was less than a meter away. Of course, all of her bags stood in between them. There were two doorways next to them. One door was open, showing Hermione a large cupboard and some drawers. The other was closed.
Sirius motioned with his hand, just as attractive as his arm, towards the open door. 'This is where you'll be sleeping.' He picked up her bags and carried them in, dumping them on the bed.
Hermione looked around. The room was beautiful. Of course, the room's furniture was the same old-fashioned style as she had seen through the whole house. But, it had a certain cosiness that she hadn't noticed anywhere else.
In the centre of the room was the bed. It was made of a dark wood, in a very simple design. The bedspread was white with a pale yellow ribbon weaved around the sides of the pillows and blanket. Hermione couldn't imagine Percy wanting to sleep on anything of the sort. But she loved it.
The bed was so large, however, and the room so not large, that the only place for Hermione to look was at the bed. This embarrassed her as beds were the last thing she needed to be thinking about in the presence of Sirius. Once again, her cheeks turned red. She wondered if she would go through the entire remainder of the summer holidays with a permanent blush. It wouldn't have surprised her.
Sirius seemed to have noticed the same thing as Hermione, as a smile was lurking behind his chiseled jaw, the shadows in the room emphasising his beautiful face. 'I think that I'll leave you to it, then,' he said, 'If that's okay?'
Hermione smiled, 'Of course.' Maybe she wouldn't make a complete fool of herself every time she saw Sirius after all.
'Actually, I believe Molly said that dinner would be ready in about five minutes. How about we both change and we can go eat?'
Hermione panicked. What was he suggesting? 'Well, I'd like a little privacy before I get changed. Is that all right?'
'Well, yes. I was intending to change in my own room actually. Especially since that's where I keep my clothes.' He laughed.
Hermione didn't know why when Sirius had suggested changing, she had just presumed that he would be present. But she did know she was ready to die due to embarrassment. 'Of course! Yes, I knew what you meant. That's not what I was thinking. At all. Where is your room?' She already wished she hadn't asked.
'That's my bedroom, just there,' Sirius said, motioning towards the wall, 'Next door. Why? Are you planning on coming to find me in the middle of the night?' Hermione wished he wouldn't tease her like that.
She tried to ignore the fact that she would be sharing a wall with a man she had just been having totally inappropriate thoughts about. 'No. I'm not planning anything. Well I'll get changed now I guess.'
'Sure. I will too. Then I guess I'll see you at dinner.' Then he exited, leaving Hermione feeling a little giddy and a lot embarrassed. Just as she was about to change out of her traveling clothes, she heard the door of Sirius' bedroom open and close.
He was in there. She could hear him. Even though she couldn't even see him, and he probably had no idea of it, he was still making her feel uncomfortable. For a moment, she tried to ignore the image of Sirius, shirtless, only meters away from her. But, she soon decided it was useless to try and fight it, and sat on her bed, immersed in thought.
After what could have been a minute or could have been an hour, Hermione realised how long she had been sitting there, on her bed, thinking of Sirius. Thinking of Sirius getting changed. She mentally shook herself. She didn't think she could get through a summer like this.
Quickly, she changed into the clothes she was meant to already be in and rushed downstairs. As she entered what looked like the dining room, she noticed a lot more red hair than had been present when she first arrived at the house.
Either Fred or George yelled out, 'Hermione!', and then everybody in the room turned to look at her. She felt one particular pair of eyes on her, from the corner of the room. She tried to ignore them and instead smiled up at Fred, George, Ginny and Ron. It was almost a relief to her, to see somebody that she felt completely comfortable with again.
'Hi! How was Diagon Alley? I know you brought me back some of Florean Fortescue's ice cream. Because you remembered how much I love it, right?' They all laughed but Hermione didn't see any ice cream. She had only been half joking.
Hermione, Ron and Ginny all sat down at one end of the table. Ron and Ginny kept up an almost constant commentary on all the people in the room; who they were, why they were here, and whether or not they were liked.
'Kingsley Shacklebolt. He's one of the top Aurors at Dad's work. He doesn't speak a great deal. But we like him.'
'Nymphadora Tonks. But never call her by her first name. Total issues about that. She can change her appearance whenever she likes. That explains the green hair I'm sure. She's an Auror too. We like her.'
'Mundungus Fletcher. Works on the wizarding black market. Nobody knows really why he's here. Dad doesn't like him.'
Hermione soon got the picture. As Mrs. Weasley served Hermione plate after plate of food, claiming she was 'far too thin', Hermione sat with Ginny and Ron, as well as the woman named Tonks, Bill Weasley and Remus Lupin, who Hermione had been delighted to see.
They all talked and laughed for at least half an hour until it was announced by Mrs. Weasley that they were all to go to bed. Hermione didn't particularly like being ordered around in this way. But when she looked at the clock on the wall, she noticed that it was almost midnight and she was getting tired, so she decided not to argue. Not that she believed she could ever out-argue Mrs. Weasley.
All of the Weasleys started up the stairs. When they got up to the landing Hermione called out a goodnight to Ginny, and continued up the next flight. At the top, instead of going straight into her bedroom, she stopped and looked at the closed door that was Sirius' bedroom. As far as she was aware, he was still downstairs with everyone else. She never considered opening his door and peeking in. But for a moment, she did consider considering it.
'Boo.' One of Hermione's feet actually left the floor for a moment, she was so shocked. Sirius had arrived at exactly the wrong time, when she had been deep in thought about whether or not she should open the door to his room. She supposed now that the choice had been made for her.
'Why the guilty look?' There was a smile creeping up on his luscious lips. Oh no, she did not just think the word luscious.
'No guilty look. Umm, I was just going to bed.' Hermione looked down, embarrassed as usual. 'Goodnight.'
Sirius smiled at her, his eyes twinkling. 'Goodnight.'
She forced a smile onto her face, then walked into her room, looking forward to a good night's sleep. She was just ready to carelessly flop onto her beautiful bed when an image of Sirius in his bed only a room away distracted her.
Hermione felt very self-conscious considering she was in a room all of her own. She was careful with every movement she made, imagining the wall across from her was transparent. For some reason the idea of Sirius lying in bed, possibly asleep, definitely without a top was more appealing to her than anything else she could conjure up into her brain.
She fell asleep staring at the wall facing her, thinking that Percy didn't know what he was missing.