Hermione sighed, rolling her shoulders back and stretching her neck from side to side to attempt to relieve it of the stiffness that had settled in while she hunched over her mountain of paperwork. If her mother was there, she would go into a tizzy over Hermione's horrible posture, slipping into a tangent about how she was going to end up with arthritis or osteoporosis when she got older. Hermione couldn't' seem to help it though; whenever she became immersed in her work, her body tended to sag forward. And the looming stack of papers she'd found on her desk that morning had done nothing if not keep her immersed.
The morning had been productive so far in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Hermione liked her job well enough, but after almost three years of working deep within the politically saturated Ministry, she had grown weary of the red tape and arse kissing. It was too twisted and convoluted for her tastes. She wasn't slimy enough to make it, so she muddled along, minding her own business as she tried -and most often failed- to work for the rights of certain classes of magical creatures. She'd still had no luck where house elves were concerned, but she'd had a bit of headway with centaurs and werewolves. Not enough, in her mind. It never would seem to be enough, to her, but it was something, she told herself. She knew she could hold her head high when she left for the last time, knowing that she had made at least a small impression at the Ministry.
She jumped and squealed when someone reached over the back of her chair and grabbed her sides, squeezing lightly, and causing her to almost slip out of her seat.
"Afternoon, 'Mione!" Harry crowed, grinning triumphantly down at her. Amber colored eyes flashed as they met green; if looks could kill, Harry would be dead on the floor.
"Harry James Potter! Don't do that! How many times do I have to tell you?! You can't do that to people and not expect to get your bollocks hexed off! You're lucky I was only holding my quill and not my wand!" Hermione exclaimed, her hand to her heart as it thumped out an unsteady gallop within her chest.
Harry's face sobered at the idea of his bollocks being blown to bits, and he hung his head, properly chastised. "Sorry, 'Mione. I forgot how jumpy you get when you're properly distracted."
Hermione sighed, her body sinking down into her office chair as the adrenaline left her bloodstream. "It's alright. Just promise me you won't do that again?" Harry nodded contritely.
"So, are you ready to go to lunch, or do you need a moment to finish up?" He asked, reminding her suddenly of their standing Wednesday lunch dates.
Hermione heaved a sigh, pretending to look over her work and evaluate if she needed to finish anything up. In reality, she knew she could leave everything as it was without worry. What was worrying her, however, is how in the world was she going to sit across from Harry at lunch and not think about the fact that she'd spent the entirety of his birthday and party wet for his godfather. God, she'd been so wet... Stop it, Hermione!
Harry cleared his throat, bringing her back from her downward spiral of inappropriate thoughts. "Yes, I'm ready, I think." Hermione said, standing quickly, smoothing out her navy pencil skirt, and grabbing up her wand and clutch.
As they walked towards the floo connections, Harry told her about what she'd missed after she left his party the night before. Apparently, Ginny had brought a magically-converted muggle karaoke machine for their entertainment, and it seemed that most of the highlights seemed to include it in some manner, along with copious amounts of booze -both the Muggle and wizarding varieties.
There was the story where the twins semi-drunkenly sang "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred with very enthusiastic hip thrusts, or when Susan Bones and Dean Thomas had done a very sweet rendition of "A Whole New World" from Aladdin that made Fleur cry, much to the amusement of her girls. They'd even charmed it to play a few wizarding songs, and Mrs. Weasley had sung "A Cauldron Full of Hot Strong Love", much to everyone's displeasure.
The coup de grace was the very drunk -at that point- muggle-borns and half-bloods all getting together and doing the "Y.M.C.A." -complete with hand motions. This apparently ended in certain members of the chorus stripping off pieces of clothing and throwing them from the makeshift stage. Mrs. Weasley had to step in and shut down the whole operation after that. Harry refused to name names, forcing Hermione to assume he was included in the strip tease lot.
Hermione shook her head and mentally slapped herself, very grateful that she hadn't been there at that point. She knew exactly where Ginny had gotten the blasted device: on a shopping trip a few months prior with none other than herself and Luna Lovegood. Ginny had said she wanted to give it to her dad as a Christmas gift -something new for him to take apart, but clearly that had been a lie. She was going to have to have a little chat with the ginger about how not to use and abuse Muggle technology... Although she was wondering how she'd charmed it to work around the wards at Grimmauld. Maybe Ginny would be willing to work on Hermione's iPod?
Harry and his stories of the party distracted her so much that she almost didn't notice who was waiting for them at their table until it was too late.
"Harry," Hermione said, turning her body so Sirius couldn't notice as she attempted to squash down her rising panic before it bubbled over into her tone, "Why is Sirius sitting at our table?"
"Oh," Harry looked up and waved happily at his godfather, ignorant of his best friend's distress. "I forgot to mention that he's going to be joining us on Wednesdays for the foreseeable future because I have a project that I need both of your help on."
Hermione let out a shaky breath. At least Harry hadn't dragged him here because he knew and wanted to make the two of them talk things out. She didn't think she could take that.
She allowed Harry to walk her over to the table, where Sirius stood for her like a perfect gentleman -whose cock she hadn't grabbed the night before. They all sat in relative silence and began perusing the menu, while Hermione tried to keep her breathing under control. It wouldn't due to hyperventilate over lunch.
"Hmm, what sounds good today?" Sirius mused, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "I'm thinking chicken, but I can't decide between the breast or the thigh." Hermione's eyes grew round, and she quickly raised her menu to hide her shock as he continued, "Both are succulent, and full of tender meat, but the thigh apparently comes dripping moist au jus."
Harry shook his head and chuckled heartily at his godfather's antics, oblivious, as his best friend couldn't help but clinch her thighs painfully together in an attempt at creating friction -No! Not creating friction! She admonished herself. She could not do that at lunch, no matter how Sirius baited her!
Despite her firm words to herself, she could feel her own "jus" soaking her knickers at his words, and she was desperately trying to pretend she had no idea he was talking about anything other than food. It wasn't working, judging by the way her nipples were pebbling as her mind conjured up unbidden images of his rough hands on her breasts... Stop that! She may have been ridiculously turned on, but she was more than slightly mad at his insinuation that she was a chicken. She only ran last night because of how he reacted when he found out it was her! She was not about to sit there and listen to him sneakily admonish her for her actions, or hear him claim there was nothing between them and that she'd been massively -or drunkenly- mistaken. No! She was an adult. She was almost twenty-one, and she did not need to have a sex talk from Sirius -especially when he had been the one she was hoping to have sex with. That was just degrading.
"Or maybe I'll have the oysters... I've always enjoyed sucking them out of their shells. I'm crazy about the slightly salty flavor. Can't get enough of it. I could eat oysters for hours." Hermione ground her teeth and clenched her fists around her menu to stop herself from pounding her hands on the table in exasperation. She'd never heard that euphemism before, but how could he?! Harry may be a bit daft about girls and sex, but my God was Sirius laying it on thick! Harry was bound to catch on!
Thankfully the server came back quickly and began to get their orders sorted out. Hermione ordered the strawberry salad with vinaigrette, rather than the asparagus risotto she had been eyeing, Harry ordered lamb chops with roasted veg, and Sirius decided he wanted a steak and mashed potatoes, instead of his earlier considerations. Hermione sighed, thankful that the innuendos would be stopping.
"And how would you like that prepared?" The server asked, quick-quotes quill paused over a floating notepad. Sirius paused to give it a bit of thought, then grinned like the devil. "I'll take it medium -I like a juicy, pink center."
Hermione had to restrain herself from smacking him or groaning out her annoyance into her hands as their server vanished the menus and banished their order to the kitchen before walking to a neighboring table. Sirius sat there, grinning like a fool -even more so when he noticed her clenched jaw, and Harry was oblivious to both of them.
"So, Harry, why did you summon us here today?" Sirius asked jovially, bouncing his right leg up and down.
"Before I get to that, I need the loo. I'll explain as soon as I get back." Harry said, springing from his chair like someone had placed a Muggle tack in it. That was odd...
As soon as Harry disappeared around the corner, Hermione lit into Sirius, completely forgetting Harry's weird behavior. "I cannot believe you! Harry may be daft about some things, but he isn't that daft about anything! You've got to stop before he catches on! And stop that, as well-" she said, reaching over and using her hand to force his leg to stop bouncing up and down. "You're putting me on edge!"
Sirius' eyes darkened minutely as his grin began to slip into a self-satisfied smirk. "Ah, so now you're going to acknowledge me? If you're so worried about my double entendres, maybe you should get your hand off my thigh. People might start to suspect there's more going on than there is. Especially if they knew about last night."
Hermione snatched her hand back like he'd shot a stinging hex at her, completely humiliated that she hadn't removed her hand straight away. She hadn't even realized it was still there. She wanted to come back with a scathing comment, but she had nothing.
"Speaking of last night, what was that?" He asked in a low voice, leaning towards her over the tabletop. Hermione could feel a blush spreading up her chest and neck to her cheeks. God, she had really hoped he wouldn't mention that, but at least he'd had a care to not mention it in front of Harry.
Cheeks flaming, Hermione attempted to formulate a train of thought. How could he ask her that? He was there! He knew what that was!
She thought back on the whole day: how he'd been flirting with her at brunch -especially after a few mimosas; how he'd seemed to have an excuse to end up in every room she'd cleaned; then how she'd caught a glimpse of him watching her from the doorway of the library as she read -he'd groaned! She wouldn't have noticed otherwise! And then there was the whole owl incident... Can't forget that! Plus all the times she'd felt his eyes roaming over her body at the party.
Before she could formulate her reply, Harry was back, as was their server with their food and drink orders floating along behind him.
"Always works: Someone heads to the loo and the food comes out! Amazing! Almost like magic." Harry said jokingly, completely unaware of the awkward sexual tension between the other two occupants at the table. Sirius shot her a smoldering gaze that let her know he wasn't through with her.
Too bad it was too early for her to order a shot of something...
This was going to be a very long lunch.
Author's Note:
Sorry that took so long to get up! I'd been writing on it bit by bit (70% was written that first day) since I posted the other chapter, and then next thing I knew, it'd been 5 days. Oops. But it's up!
This fic officially has the most likes, reviews, and favorites of any of my works now. Not exactly a hard feat, but I'm still gonna celebrate it!
Bring on the reviews! What do you think is going to happen? Why does Harry have them gathered for lunch? Me, myself, and I want to know what you're thinking!
Thanks for the support, guys! You're the best! 3