Chapter 4
"Hermione!"
Hermione turned to look behind her only to be met with the sight of Sirius Black hurtling straight towards her, seeming to have no intention of slowing down anytime soon. Hermione put up her arms to defend herself from being totally bowled over, yet the blow never came. When she was finally able to extricate her hands from her face and pry her eyes open Sirius Black was standing in front of her with a goofy grin on his face (Hermione was quite certain that had he been in his other form his tail would've been wagging furiously behind him).
"Hullo Hermione," Sirius greeted her with an goofier grin (if that was possible).
"Hello Sirius," Hermione replied wearily. Somehow that man always managed to look good even when he was grinning like a maniac, it just wasn't natural. Who knew grins could be sexy? "Is there a reason you're in such a frolicking mood? It's not every day that I almost get bowled over," Hermione said in a stern voice though the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth made it slightly less convincing.
"Well you see, love, I've been hanging around Severus quite..."
"Severus?" Hermione interrupted.
"Yes, Snape, you know," Severus replied confusedly.
"Sirius, since when do you refer to that man as Severus. Hasn't it always been Snape, or actually, scratch that. The majority of time you refer to him as bastard."
"Yes, well, he's still a bastard, just a lesser one. Anyway," Sirius went on.
"You mean he's nice???" Hermione interrupted once again.
"No he's not exactly nice," Sirius was getting quite put out with all these interruptions. Every time he answered her questions a dozen more came flying his way. "He's just nicer. Anyway," he said rushing on so he would not be interrupted again, "as I said I've been spending a lot of the time with Severus," he gave Hermione a pointed look as if warning her to interrupt again, "and the man only seems to take you seriously if you act as intelligent, calm and in control as him. In short, you have to act as if you have a broom shoved up your arse. If you don't act like this he tends to do the whole sneering, drawling, nasty thing," Sirius said with his nose wrinkled.
"Right," Hermione said slowly, mulling it over, "but that still doesn't explain why you were about to bowl me over like you were playing pin bowling with humans as the equipment."
"What's pin bowling?" Sirius asked confusedly.
"It's a Muggle sport. You wear these horrible shoes and... Oh never mind!" She said noticing Sirius' perplexed expression.
"You mean to say that Muggles made up a sport," Sirius put emphasis on the word sport, "where you knock over sewing pins? Are they mad? What kind of ball do they use? Dear Gods you Muggles must get bored! Do they actually have competitions and tournaments for this? Knocking over sewing pins, what will they think of next?"
"Sirius I said never mind!" Hermione said exasperatedly. Some wizards were thick! " Now do continue with your story, I would like to reach the castle some time soon."
At present she and Sirius were standing on a lush green meadow in the middle of the Scottish Isles. A slight breeze was blowing through Hermione's hair; it was a perfect summer's day. Not far from where the two were standing was a path (which was actually trampled grass) that lead to an invisible bridge that would transport the traveller to Hogwarts. However, as a safety precaution, only those with no evil intentions for Hogwarts teachers, students, or the school itself would be able to cross. Those without pure intentions would fall into the murky, watery depths below. This bridge was quite an effective method of transportation and a sound safeguard for the school against evil forces.
"Well that's about it really. I've explained why I'm so happy to see you," Sirius replied.
"Err no you have not. All you told me was that to get Severus' respect one has to act precisely like him; act as if one has a cleaning implement shoved up one's backside. What does that have to do with you being so eager to see me?" He may be a good looking man but he was quite thick, Hermione thought to herself. Sirius actually reminded her a lot of Ron, though Ron was not, unfortunately, quite as comely as the man standing before her. If he had been, Hermione was quite certain that she would not have minded kissing Ronald Weasley quite so much.
"Oh right! Well you see, Severus and I have never been friends," here Hermione made quite an unlady like snort, "however I decided," Sirius continued, "that since we would be working quite closely that we should form a kind of truce. That fact that he was going to be my boss and could make my life a living hell did not even enter into the equation," Sirius said with a sly grin.
"Right so you formed a truce. I really can't imagine he agreed to it. What did you do? Poison him?"
"Hermione, he's really not as bad as he used to be. And actually he was pleasant, well almost pleasant, about the whole thing. He has changed quite a bit since the war. I think the fact that he no longer has to hide who he is, and that he can trust people and is no longer under constant strain has a lot to do with it."
Hermione gave a disbelieving frown, " I'll have to take your word for that."
"Fair enough. So as I was saying before, we've actually been spending quite a lot of time together, he's not really that bad a conversationalist, quite witty in a dry very British kind of way. But as I said before for him to take you seriously you have to be like him, which for me is not very natural. So now that you're here I can start to be myself again, well, around you anyway. So be prepared for a lot of visits from me in this kind of state. I'm hoping I don't scare you off too soon," he concluded with a roguish grin.
Hermione laughed. "Well that does explain it. Hanging around Snape, you poor dear. I can see now why you're in such dire need of companionship. Never fear, I promise I will always be there for you as long as I'm not too busy or have better company," Hermione smiled mischievously
"Why thank-you Hermione. You have no idea how much that statement means to me. You know what? I think I liked you better when you were young and innocent and not such a little minx," Sirius said with a chuckle.
Hermione smiled. If only he knew how (much to her chagrin) innocent she was.
"Come on Hermione. Let's get you to Hogwarts," Sirius called as he started walking along the beaten and worn path that had seen centuries of young wizards and witches walk along it to the security of Hogwarts. If only Hogwarts would continue to remain that safe. For what was once a place of refuge for all those in need would soon be prison, a trap, a place that nightmares were made of. And the young woman running along the worn, ancient path to keep up with her companion, completely oblivious to the danger that would soon be upon them, was going to be caught right in the middle of it, unless some necessary changes were made. However, Hermione Granger had never been one to readily accept change, she happened to be one of those who fought it. But this was one fight she might just lose.
AN- bit of a cliffy hey? Never fear this story is still HG/SS. I just wanted to show that Hermione is a red-blooded female who is able to recognise a good-looking man when she sees one. I also thought that it might be interesting for Severus to have a bit of competition later in the story. Promise there will be more Snape Hermione interaction next chapter and will update soon.