Author Notes: Hey, Potterheads! Thanks for being patient as I decided what the perfect next scene was going to be in this story. I appreciate it and hope it makes up for the wait!
Hermione shifted on her heels as Tonks held Rigel. She cupped his cheek as he yammered and tugged on her dress. "Please don't forget to give him his blanket if he gets fussy?" Hermione asked with a pout displayed on her face.
Nymphadora smirked and nodded. "We know, Hermione."
Remus cleared his throat at the door. "We have it handled, Hermione."
"And if he gets," she paused when Tonks shot her a glare. "I know, I know, but this is the first time he's without both of us."
"You both need this," Tonks clarified. "Skipping steps are hard. You need to backtrack now."
"I think your date is going to get nervous you're skipping out on him," Remus chuckled.
Hermione shifted and straightened her dress. "How do I look?"
"Amazing, stellar, grand," Nymphadora offered some adjectives while smiling.
Hermione kissed Rigel and touched her forehead to his. "Mummy will be back tonight. Be good for Uncle Remus and Auntie Dora."
"Mama, hol ja!" Rigel insisted while snagging her hair.
"It's okay, Rye, we will have fun," Nymphadora giggled, and she nuzzled his cheek.
Hermione stepped away and passed by Remus, who patted her shoulder. "Give him hell, Hermione," he whispered with a smirk.
She glanced back once at the stairs with a smile. "You know, I will."
The witch swallowed her nerves while climbing down the staircase. What if it goes horribly wrong? What if once away from the baby, their feelings aren't so warm? Can she be lying to herself about this? What if he feels like there's no other way but this? He could feel pressured into it. Sirius could very well be putting on a show for her…
Her trepidation lessened once she entered the entrance hall. Sirius was standing in a handsome suit, not robes, but a muggle suit. It was a lovely navy blue and brought out the wild nature of his eyes. Hermione internally swooned; she was going on a date with Sirius Black? Fancy that.
"Don't you look gorgeous," he chuckled and reached for her.
Hermione sighed as his lips traced her cheek. "You look quite dapper, Sirius," she whispered.
He lingered. She felt her whole body concede to the inward battle of how attractive she thought he was. His stubble grazed her jawline as he smiled. "Are you feeling ravenous?" he breathed.
More than he knew. "Yes, actually," Hermione hemmed as she pulled away.
"Good," he smirked and held out his arm.
Hermione took it in hers, and they walked toward the door. "Where are we going?"
Sirius grinned as they stepped to the pathway leading from 12 Grimmauld. "Well, I decided to do something I don't usually do and use my name."
Hermione arched an eyebrow as she glanced over at him. "How so?"
"You'll see," he chuckled and pointed. "We'll go from there."
Hermione breathed as she bounced her head. "Alright."
Sirius twitched his lips and glanced over at her. "You look spectacular," he voiced. "I don't think I've ever been out with a woman who held such elegance before."
Hermione noted the darkening around his cheekbones, and her lips curled. "Thank you for the compliment, Sirius."
They approached the corner, and he tugged her to his form. It was gentle and wouldn't have been so intense, had she not been trying to find her footing with this date. His fingers caressed her bareback and forced her cheek against his chest before they disapparated.
Hermione had little time to recover when they landed in a lit room with a table stretched out before them. Sirius peeled her away from him and gestured. "Dinner and then a tour?" he smirked.
Hermione glanced around and arched an eyebrow. "Are we in the Oxford Library?"
Sirius bounced his head with a wide smile. "Yes, what do you think?"
Her laugh traveled on the high ceiling of the wing. "I think you're barmy and entirely sweet."
He held out a chair and gestured to it. "M'lady," he snickered.
Hermione wandered over, and he stiffened, holding out his hand. "Wait, just wait," Sirius ordered.
"What?"
Sirius paced over and hummed as he circled her. "Something, oh, yes," he said while stopping in front of her.
Hermione huffed and shifted in her shimmering maroon dress. "What?"
He ducked down and pulled her in for a toe-curling kiss. No normalcy here. Just a hair-raising, moan-inducing, blood-boiling kiss. Hermione whimpered and curled her arms around his neck as he backed her to the table. Merlin's magic did the man know how to kiss!
When he parted from her mouth, Sirius sighed. "That's much better," he murmured.
Hermione puffed and smacked his chest while still in his grip. "You can't just kiss a witch like that at the start of a date, Sirius Black."
He chuckled while pulling away from her and gestured to the seat. "I believe I just did."
Hermione groaned as she sat down, and he pushed her toward the table. It was safe to say, she wanted to shag him—more than safe. The bloody power play was what it was, and he knew it. Sirius sat down across from her at the small table and tapped his plate with his wand. Their dinner appeared, and Hermione reached for the wine glass that was filled.
"So, how long did it take you to decide where you were bringing me?" Hermione asked before sipping her glass.
"Oh, I wasn't sure until this afternoon," Sirius sighed. "Where do you take the witch who could have it all? To a place where her greatest addiction is housed."
Hermione scrunched her brow as she glanced back at the door across the wing. "Are we going to be walked in on by muggles searching for divinity?"
"No, I called on a favor. We will have the library to ourselves in about an hour as well," Sirius remarked.
"I'm impressed," Hermione confessed with a smile. "You don't seem to stop impressing me, Sirius."
His gleeful expression dropped as he glanced down at his plate. "I haven't always."
"Sirius, you've always been impressive to me. Grant it; occasionally, you grate my nerves. Sometimes you know just the wrong thing to say, and even at times, you can be stubborn about things you feel could be done differently. However, as a whole, you've always been someone I find exceptionally decent and kind."
Sirius scowled as he lifted his glass. "You truly feel that way?"
Hermione snorted with a curl to her lips. "You honestly believe I'd be raising a child with you in your house if I didn't? Sirius, you've been a man I can't seem to escape from fantasizing about. It has caused some awkward moments in the past."
"Fantasizing? Oh, I have to know now," he chuckled after drinking his wine.
Hermione pressed her lips together as color blossomed on her cheeks. "You're quite dashing, and you know that."
"Yes, and?" He pressed.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "And you always praise my intellect and my beauty. Even when I was crying over my breakup with Ron. You were tender, kind, and had this appealing air about you. That was when I first noticed my not-so-normal thoughts about you."
"Well, let's just thank Merlin I didn't know about them," he hemmed and tugged at his shirt collar.
Hermione frowned as she set down her silverware. "Sirius, when did it occur to you that there was something else here? I won't be offended by your answer."
Sirius exhaled and shrugged his shoulders. "Hermione, if I knew the answer to that question, I don't think we would have had such a hard few years. There are moments that I knew I had to remind myself of the line we stood across from. Respectfully, I knew there was no pursuit for my curiosity, and thus birthed a very potent objection to our friendship."
"Then, around the same time?" Hermione questioned.
"Do you remember that night in the library when Dora left. You were staying with us, and I had lingered with you as you drank?" Sirius questioned.
Hermione bobbed her head while chewing. "Yes," she answered after her bite. "You sat with me."
Sirius licked his lips and breathed. "You decided that you wanted a rebound after such a difficult severing. You asked through your alcoholic induced haze if I would do it."
"I did not!" She gasped.
"You did," he chuckled. "And I for a split second almost agreed. I realized then how much I wanted to, and had to remind myself what the morning after would have been like. It would have destroyed you and ruined our friendship."
"Seems like I'm always propositioning you," Hermione snorted.
Sirius pivoted his head from side to side as he chewed. "Yes, but I've usually had my head about me enough. Until Christmas, that is."
"Christmas," Hermione sighed. "I don't remember anything beyond dinner. You fed me so much eggnog and brandy. I suppose I was going to take the initiative."
Sirius moaned and breathed. "I do. I remember it vividly."
"If we hadn't been stopped," she paused; it was a wild query.
"I might have done something I regretted in the loo with you," he snickered with a smirk.
"Why didn't you tell me? Why would you hide that from me?"
Sirius exhaled as he set down his silverware. "Honestly, Hermione? I didn't want you to feel guilty. Molly was quite vicious in her scolding and called me names I'd rather not repeat."
Hermione narrowed her eyes. "But I'm an adult, Sirius. I'm mature. I know what I'm doing with most of my actions. If I was trying to kiss you, it was my decision. She had no right to say those things to you."
"You are an adult," he stopped. "But I'm a matured man. I shouldn't be even dreaming of shagging a woman your age."
Hermione shifted in her chair and pursed her lips. "You're also the most emotionally turbulent man I know. You spent twelve years in Azkaban. What did you tell Remus when he married Dora?"
Sirius's cheeks were flaming as he swallowed down the last of his wine. "That he deserved someone to keep him young."
"Don't you agree? You deserve someone young enough to deal with your rubbish, but mature enough to know it's just rubbish?"
He stood up and walked around the table, ducking to her eye-level. "Are you positive you want to engage yourself with a man like that? A wizard who has seen hell, has an attitude, and sometimes can be a bit insecure?"
Hermione turned and coiled her arms around his neck while smiling. "You wouldn't be the Sirius Black I know and love if you weren't."
"Hermione," he huffed.
"Plus, don't you just love the idea of us plastered in the papers together? I'm pretty nice to look at, too, aren't I?" She teased with a challenging stare.
He glanced between them and scrutinized her gorgeous dress. He was attempting not to gawp like a schoolboy, but the swirling sheer pattern on the dress was distracting. He could see bits and pieces of her body and wanted more. Sirius groaned and met her eyes again. "You look delicious," he whispered.
She bent closer, and one side of her lips tugged upward. "What is for dessert?"
"It's in the library," he exhaled and pulled from her. "Are you ready?"
Hermione glanced back at her nearly finished plate and nodded. "Yes, I think if dinner was this delectable, dessert is going to be worthy."
Sirius led her from the wing and into the central portion of the library. It was gorgeous, and the lighting bounced off the ceiling with magnificent beauty. He assisted her to a ledge on the second level, and Hermione glanced around.
"Where are we going for dessert?" She questioned while assessing the area.
Sirius huffed and backed her to a bookcase. "I'm going to have it right now," he rumbled.
He shifted her to the small step stool near the bookcase, and Hermione gasped as he threw the hem of her dress back. The scent of old books. The echoes of her cries in the ancient hall. Even the wild textures of Sirius Black made this a date she would never forget.