She could see the shock on his face, well faces because there were currently two Sirius Black's floating in front of her. She had holed herself up in the library after he went to bed with a few bottles of wine, they were now empty at her feet, and she'd moved on to fire whiskey. Not the most responsible choice she could've made, but it felt so good.
"Kid, you all right?" She heard him ask, and all she could do was giggle. That voice was sinful. It had been the topic of many late-night conversations between her and Ginny when they stayed here during their fifth year. It wasn't the only part of him that was sinful either.
"Did you drink all this wine?" He asked, suddenly in front of her his face finally coming into focus.
"And some fire whiskey." Hermione heard herself respond with a self-satisfied smirk.
"Must've been some night," Sirius replied, seemingly unable to decide if he should be concerned or amused at her drunkenness. She'd surely caught him in the library in much the same state many times before, but she was Hermione Granger, no one expected this from her.
"Ron brought Thora Selpie to dinner at the Burrow tonight, Thora fucking Selpie." Hermione slurred her words, but the disgust was evident on her face.
"Am I supposed to know who that is?" Sirius asked, sipping on his own freshly poured glass of fire whiskey.
"She was three years below us at school; she's barely 19. Ron brought a child to dinner because he wanted me to be jealous." Hermione responded, taking a hefty swig of her fire whiskey. She enjoyed the burn of it more than the sweetness of whiskey, at least it adds some physicality to the disgust she was feeling.
"Ron isn't the brightest bulb on the Weasley tree; I thought we all knew that," Sirius said, but the smirk on his face belied his amusement at the whole predicament.
"And besides," He countered, "You two broke up ages ago."
"Yes, but I've refrained from prancing a parade of men through Molly Weasley's front door out of respect for our friendship." Hermione shot back, her eyes lighting up with annoyance despite the alcohol coursing through her veins.
"A parade of men?" Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow. He lived with her after all, and he hadn't seen one wizard pass through the front door of Grimmauld Place since she'd moved in.
"I am both charming and discreet, Sirius. Besides, the one wizard I wish would give me a second glance has not been informed that I am an adult and no longer a schoolgirl. Thus, a parade of men." Hermione bit back, a blush rising to her cheeks.
"Ah, Hermione has a crush." Sirius joked at her expense, the blush on her cheeks getting even redder with his teasing.
"I can't believe I've let myself pine away for him for so long," Hermione began, dropping her head in her hands. "Even Ginny is appalled at my inability to get over this schoolgirl crush."
"It's not Snivellus, I hope, that would be disturbing." Sirius joked, before being sickened at his suggestion.
"I may have been a school girl when I met him, but that doesn't mean I met him at Hogwarts, you ridiculous man." She responded, her discomfort at the idea mirroring his own.
"Well, who is he then?" Sirius probed, the liquor making him more curious and probing than he usually would've been.
"I can't tell you that," Hermione responded, trying her hardest to look serious although she was drunk.
"Come on, Kitten," Sirus purred, "You're drunk in my library, the least you could do is tell me why." He was egging her on, and she knew it, but the alcohol made her feel so bold, and she hated to lose a challenge.
"Don't, please," Hermione said, pushing herself up from her seat to stagger towards the kitchen.
"Hermione, come on. I don't bite." She heard him call from behind her as he made to follow her across the house.
She ignored him and kept up her warpath to the cupboard, which held her secret stash of chocolate. Tonight was quickly overwhelming her, and she couldn't handle the warmth of the library anymore.
Hermione had barely opened the cupboard when she felt him standing close behind her. She whirled around, grasping for her wand on instinct only to realize she'd left it tucked in her robes in the other room.
"I promise I won't tell whoever it is Hermione or anyone else for that matter. But you can't fault an old man for being curious." He teased, his hands coming to cage her against the counter.
"I- I'm too drunk for this." She told him as she tried to wriggle out of his grasp, it was heating her cheeks even more than the fire whiskey had.
"Just tell me the name, and I'll set you free," He told her with a mischievous smile that reminded her of George Weasley.
"He's older." Hermione relented a little, her mind becoming distracted at the sight of his tattoos peeking out of the low neckline of his black button-up shirt.
"Scandalous." He replied, still eyeing her as he waited for more information.
Suddenly Hermione decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. He wanted to play with her, tease her; she was going to give as good as she got. Any other night and she would've kneed him in the balls, but tonight the fire whiskey had given her the courage that she'd been waiting years to acquire.
"Are you sure you want to know?" She asked him again, this time, her smile matching his. He almost faltered at the playful look in her eyes but persisted and nodded in agreement.
Without so much as a pause after his affirmation, she grabbed the silk robe he was wearing and pulled him even closer, crashing her lips onto his in a haphazard way she blamed on the drink. He tensed against her lips at first but was quick to respond. He had a hand on her hip that gripped her tight to his body, and another hand tangled itself into her curls as he deepened their kiss.
She broke away for a second, and he stared down at her, slightly confused.
"It's you, you daft old man." She told him with a breathless chuckle.
He only smiled that lewd smile and pulled her closer. And as his lips moved against hers and then further down to the crook of her neck, Hermione could only wonder why she hadn't kissed him sooner.