AN- Nope do not own anything (woe is me) am not making any money (woe is me) though I wouldn't mind owning Sirius and Snape and Lucius Malfoy too for that matter (woe is me again). Lucius thing sounds slightly weird, I know, but I love the guy who plays him. What type of man is able to make Captain Hook sexy?? If you haven't seen the new-ish Peter Pan movie I'm suggesting you do. Right now! Well after you've read this chapter anyway. He he he.
Okay this is gonna sound so (can't thing of the right word) errr lame. But I just reread all my reviews (all 33!!! Go you reviewers!) and I realised that I really do owe it to you to continue. You all seem to like what I'm writing and the criticisms you've given have all been most constructive. So after this perusal I was hit by the Guilt Bullet and decided to get my act together and write the next chapter.
So here we are. Aren't you proud of me?
Chapter 7The week flew by for Hermione Granger and before she knew it there was only one day left till the children returned. Luckily she was now well-prepared having buried herself in planning lessons and schedules for her classes. Though, to keep her from completely over-working herself Hermione had spent quite a lot of time, however much she could really, with Sirius and she was awaiting the arrival of the students with eager anticipation. Fortunately she had not run into Severus Snape, preferring to share her meals with Sirius in either of their rooms and only venturing out in the hallways for walks with her sometimes furry companion or to visit the beloved library.
Now Hermione was quite aware that she could not hide from Snape forever, truth be told she would prefer she get their next meeting, nay, confrontation out of the way. This ducking and diving business was not only tiring her out but also causing her some stress too. However, it seemed that the temperamental Headmaster was doing some avoiding of his own. She knew Sirius still spent time with him, though how her dear friend could tolerate all that time spent with Snape was beyond her. Yet she had seen neither hide nor hair of the ex-Potions Master since she had apologised. For this Hermione was quite grateful.
She was aware that part of the reason she felt so bitterly towards Snape, apart from the fact that he had ridiculed her and belittled everything and everyone she loved, and made her school potion's classes absolute hell, was to do with the fact that she was jealous of him. When Sirius was not spending time with her he was with that man. And it angered Hermione even more when she realised how simply pathetic she was being.
With a toss of her head and a rolling of the eyes Hermione heaved herself out of the chair she had been occupying for the past few hours and placed the book she had been attempting to read back on its appropriate shelf. The library, to her, had always been a sanctuary and Hermione was more than glad that it had lost none of its homey, comfortable feel. Luckily Ms Pince had retired, and a new Professor would soon be taking her place though they had not yet arrived. Hermione just hoped that the new librarian would be a little more gracious and, what was the word, kind than her premeditator. Hermione had hated it how the librarian had been able to make Hermione feel as if she was always doing something she should not be doing, though even she had to admit that the librarian's suspicions weren't entirely unfounded. How many times had she gone to the library after hours wrapped in Harry's invisibility cloak to gain access to books she would otherwise not have had any access to?
She could not suppress the grin that spread across her face at the memories. Ah childhood! How she missed those days. Truth be told she had not seen Harry or Ron for quite some time, their last outing being quite a while before she'd received her 'letter'. It was funny that, Hermione had only ever received two very important letters and both had been to invite her to Hogwarts, first as a student and now as a Professor. Shaking her head slightly Hermione wandered aimlessly through the rows. A Professor, who'd have thought! Certainly not she. She'd been, well content would be too strong a word, satisfied with her work at the Ministry. And though it was tedious and never-endingly boring and dull, it had been a job and she'd been good at it.
Bang!! The doors to the library were blasted open and Hermione hurriedly spun around, eyes wide and wand at the ready.
"Hermione! Quick!" Sirius Black bellowed, searching for the young woman in the dim shadowy room. "The new librarian has arrived and all the other Professors too. Come, come!" he explained excitedly, upon spotting her. Hermione was certain, that had the old librarian still been at the school she would have had a heart attack, Sirius was being so loud.
"Sirius shush! Not so loud, I'm not deaf," Hermione admonished, shaking her head slightly at her now slightly bashful friend.
"Sorry," Sirius stage whispered, though it must be said that this was not much of a difference from his bellowing a few moments before. "Got carried away again," he smiled, "anyway, all the Professors are arriving and Snape's allowed for me to arrange a kind of party."
Hermione could not help but smile at her friend, his eyes were practically glowing with anticipation. Parties were not really her scene, that was common knowledge, however, Sirius' enthusiasm was contagious.
"Where are you holding it?"
"Well, seeing as it's last minute and all, I thought we might go to the Room of Requirement. What do you think?" he asked, eyes hopeful.
"What a marvellous idea. Come on, let's go now," Hermione enthused, and with that Sirius grabbed her by the hand and half-dragged her along the hallway only to run headfirst into the Headmaster, taking him completely unawares. There was a muffled "Oomph" and then all three landed on the floor, a tangle of arms and legs.
Now what Sirius Black had failed to mention to his bushy haired companion was the effort it had taken him to persuade Snape to let him have a party, in the end he'd had to resort to threatening to blackmail the Headmaster, though what exactly the 'black mail' entailed was between the two men.
Severus, like Hermione, was not particularly fond of parties, yet unlike Hermione, he was not prepared to make even an appearance to most, deeming them to be a waste of his valuable time. However, being at most times a sensible man he had seen the merits of a, he shuddered, social gathering. There had been quite a few changes to Hogwarts this year, quite a number of new faculty, hence, this soiree would help get the faculty acquainted. What had stopped him from immediately acquiescing Sirius' request once he realised the merits to the event was the fact that this would involve some amount of 'mingling' on his part, and how he detested the activity. Sirius also, like Dumbledore, had a way of making social gatherings huge events. And how Severus detested those too.
However, Sirius had soon brought out the, how did the Muggles say, the 'big guns' and threatened Severus with revealing certain information that the Headmaster was most adamant should not be revealed. Hence, he soon found himself wandering the corridors searching for the damned Dark Arts Professor, seeing that if perhaps he offered to help he might be able to 'gloss down' the huge bash Sirius assuredly had in store.
Nevertheless he had not intended to literally run into the man and his small companion and he now found himself on the floor, Sirius' leg under his back and a warm 'something' sprawled across his chest. It was only when the 'something' started groaning and moving on his chest did he realise that it was human and, Snape gulped, most definitely female. And when a mane of bushy hair fell into his face, smelling strangely of lavender and thyme perhaps? did he realise who exactly the 'something' was. Bloody Granger!
However had he managed it?? Hermione was not sure. There were two 'its' actually, the first being how Sirius had managed to walk straight into Severus Snape in the first place, and secondly how he had managed to swing Hermione around so that she landed smack bang into Snape's surprisingly strong chest, propelling them both onto the floor. Hermione gingerly raised her head and feeling a dead weight on her legs, turned to see Sirius sprawled on the floor too, his arm across her legs. The weight was soon lifted though as Sirius raised himself up, shaking his head as he did so. He turned to see Hermione glaring at him and he… he winked! That bloody bastard! It was only when Sirius raised an eyebrow and looked down at the something beneath Hermione that she realised she was laying on someone, a very hard someone. Wincing she slowly turned her head to lock gazes with a pair of very dark, very angry eyes. Oh dear!
It had been masterful, truly masterful if Sirius did not say so himself. The walking into Severus had been purely accidental, but the pushing of Hermione into an already unbalanced Snape had been all his doing. It was a pity Sirius himself had fallen to the floor too. It would have been much more dignified if he had stayed standing, but he was a Gryffindor and dignity was not one of his top priorities. Making a Slytherin uncomfortable, though, now that was something he took seriously. And seeing Snape's aggrieved look when he'd realised Hermione was laying on top of him, well it had been classic! Sirius would readily agree to anyone who said so that Hermione had turned into quite a, well not beauty, but a good looking female nonetheless, a fact Severus was quite well aware of too Sirius was certain. And if Snape hadn't realised then, he certainly would now with Hermione sitting atop of him like that. Actually, Sirius noted, it was quite intimate the situation the two of his friends were in, this caused him to smirk all the more.
Severus glared coldly at the woman sitting atop him. Wouldn't she get off already, he was beginning to find it hard to breathe. So, with a look that would have scared off the bravest of Gryffindors Snape, made to sit up. Only Hermione did not scamper off him as quickly as she could like he had hoped. Instead she had winced and dropped her head back to his chest. This worried him; maybe she had hurt herself during the fall. Surely no woman of Hermione's standards would stay in any close proximity to him. So forgetting all about his prior concerns about breathing he tentatively touched one of her shoulders, pushing her weight a little off his chest.
"Hermione, are you alright?" in his concern he did not realise he had used her first name, though Hermione did and Sirius most certainly realised. "Are you hurt?" he asked gently.
"I'm suffering from a type of malediction," she replied, her voice muffled.
"Oh yes, what is it?" he enquired raising himself slightly so as he was better able to help her if necessary.
"Mortification," came her reply.
Ana Morales- Fear not. Sirius is only interacting with Hermione, firstly, because he is a gentleman and her friend, and, secondly, because I want to use him to make Snape jealous later on (actually it was Sirius' idea, blame him!).
OrganisedChaos1982- Thanks so much for that DADA Charms thing. Have a few stories going on at the moment (terrible excuse I know) and I totally missed it. Thanks again and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.
DaBomb23- No probs about clearing it up. Anytime, sorry it wasn't clearer.
PiccoloTiger5- Glad you found my story and thanks for reviewing, am happy that you're liking it.
Lurea ara- I know Sirius is a bit cheerier than in the books, I just always figured that if he ever had his name cleared he'd be back to how he was when he was younger, a lot more carefree and much happier, that's just my interpretation though.
Sirius-Ella- Okay I totally get what you mean about the Sirius fics thing, it drives me insane! So I'm working on one of my own. What do you reckon?
A/N- Okay what do we think?? Do we dislike/ like?? Detest?? Please let me know and I promise to update sooner. I've got exams this week but after that I'm free again.
Thanks for reading!
Oh!!! And anyone interested in beta-ing?? If so email me.
Thanks again!