AN- Nope they're still not mine, unfortunately, merely borrowing them. Madelyne Harper is mine though, oh and I'll share her with Sirius. lol.
Thanks to Natalie (BadBugz) for beta-reading for me!
"Mortification," came her reply.
Chapter 8
There was a moment of stunned silence, then a loud baritone laugh rumbled from the chest Hermione was perched on. Her head snapped up in shock, surely not… Severus Snape was laughing! Not that awful snigger she'd heard him produce so often; this was a full, hearty chuckle and Sirius, who still had his leg trapped under Snape, had joined in also. Hermione shook her head in defeat. That was it then; she'd finally lost it. Either that or she was still sane and it was merely the situation that was utterly preposterous. After running through the many spells, and their appropriate wand movements, for the riddance of boils, Hermione realised that she still was sane (well, she could remember her spells at least), and hence it was the situation, not she, that was absurd.
Presently, Hermione was seated upon her ex-Potions-Master-now-Headmaster, a man whom she quite thoroughly disliked and whom, she had every reason to believe, most probably detested she. Now, said bitter, snarky, greasy ex-Potions Master was sprawled on the floor, laughing hysterically (well not really hysterically, but laughing all the same). If that wasn't weird enough, Hermione's good friend and said greasy man's ex-worst enemy was sitting nearby laughing along with him.
Hermione must have made some noise of distress as the baritone laughter came to an abrupt end.
"Are you certain you're alright, Hermione?"
"She's fine," Sirius interjected, standing up, moving to his flushed female companion and hauling her to her feet, "aren't you?" At her slight nod, Sirius turned back to the dark man still on the floor and held a hand out to him. Severus gave Sirius a look of gratitude and clasped the animagus' hand, picking himself off the floor.
"I'm sorry for, errr… falling on you," Hermione finished meekly. Mentally slapping herself in the head at her lame comment, Hermione looked up to see Sirius grinning at her and Snape, well, almost smiling at her.
"Not a problem, Ms Granger. If you ever feel like falling on someone again, I would happily retake my part as the cushioning," Snape replied, his voice velvet and deep and slightly teasing.
Hermione frowned, was Snape flirting with her?? Of course not, how ridiculous! But then again, this whole scenario was absolutely ludicrous.
So, with this in mind, Hermione smiled warmly at the new Headmaster, "Thank you." Sirius grinned at his two friends. Well, who'd have thought? They were being civil to each other and more shocking than that they were smiling too! Who could have possibly imagined that Severus Snape and Hermione Granger would be able to act politely towards the other, especially after their terrible meeting not two weeks before. Sirius inwardly smirked; it had been all his doing too. After all, it had been he who had performed that lovely manoeuvre that had sent Hermione crashing into Snape, leading to the situation the trio now found themselves in. It was ingenious, if Sirius didn't say so himself.
Sirius cleared his throat, watching with delight as his two companions guiltily glanced away from each other. "Hermione and I were just about to go to the Room of Requirement," Sirius informed Snape, a Snape who kept stealing surreptitious glances at the blushing woman standing to Sirius' right.
At this comment, Snape raised a perfectly arched, raven eyebrow, "why so?"
"Oh, well," Hermione stepped in, trying to prove to herself that she was able to speak coherently in the tall, dark man's presence and not act like some blathering fool, "Sirius thought it would be a good venue for the, errr, party," she said, visibly wincing at the last word.
"It's a bit like cheating though, seeing as we needn't worry about any of the party goods because the room will provide them for us" Sirius joined in, "but I thought you'd admire the Slytherin-ness of the idea."
"Slytherins do not cheat," Severus objected, rising to Sirius' all-too-obvious bait, "we merely side-step certain stages we deem unimportant."
Hermione snorted, "That's the most articulate definition of cheating I've ever heard."
Sirius chuckled with her and even Snape gave a wry smile. The camaraderie was soon interrupted when a young copper haired female happened to appear from the passage to Sirius' left.
"Oh! I'm sorry," she blustered, looking at the three Professors (even if one of them was not yet deemed fit for that title by a certain surly Headmaster), "I was looking for the Headmaster, but he wasn't at his office. Well, at least I think he wasn't. I mean I stood outside for a while and called out, but no one came. He might be there after all…" here she stopped, blushing slightly, "I'm sorry, I'm rambling. I have a tendency to do that, probably why I'm not a Professor, I'd end up going right off topic," she ended with a bashful shrug.
"May I ask who you are, madam?" Severus inquired politely, curious as to whom this rambling woman was.
"Oh dear! I am sorry. I'm the new librarian, Madelyne Harper," she replied, offering her hand.
"A pleasure to meet you Ms Harper," Severus said, taking her hand and shaking it gently but firmly, "I am Headmaster Snape. I am sorry I was not in my office, but I was," he glanced at Hermione, "predisposed," he explained, turning back to the librarian.
"No problem," she replied cheerily, glancing at the handsome dark haired man and the petite, bushy-haired brunette at his side. The Headmaster must have noticed her wavering attention as he soon turned to his companions and introduced them. The good-looking man was Sirius Black- the infamous recently cleared murderer, could it be??- and the smiling diminutive female was Hermione Granger- the Muggle born witch who was friends with Harry Potter, if Madelyne remembered correctly.
Hermione smiled at the chatty librarian and couldn't help but feel just a bit jealous of her. The attention of both men, which had primarily been centered on Hermione, was now on the statuesque woman with the loveliest hair Hermione had ever seen. Hair had always been an envy of Hermione's, probably because hers had always been bushy and particularly un-lovely and quite thoroughly the bane of her existence.
Madelyne Harper's hair was an attractive red-gold colour that hung in long, elegant waves down her back to just below her waist. Perched on her head was an adorable velvet hat with lace netting at the front, which covered her pale forehead and gave her a slightly rakish look. She was tall and quite curvy, not the buxom roundness of Madame Rosmerta, nor the willowy curves of Hermione herself, but somewhere in-between.
She was dressed in an old-fashioned matching green velvet dress that was buttoned to the throat in tiny black buttons, cinched at the waist and draped down to her feet. Feet, which were encased in heeled, black leather boots. She had a 'peaches and cream' complexion, dazzling green eyes, rosy cheeks and a wide, laughing, mouth. All in all, she was an elegant, attractive creature. Hermione instantly disliked her, and then disliked her all the more for the fact that she realised she was being ridiculous about not liking Madelyne simply because the woman was better looking.
"Well, anyway, I just wanted to let you know I had arrived," Madelyne supplied, turning back to face the Headmaster. 'He's not bad', she thought to herself, not the obvious handsomeness of the ex-convicted criminal by her side, but a sophisticated, elegant, dark, slightly erotic handsome.
"We knew that," Hermione informed her, in a voice not much different from the know-it-all tone she had used when she had been a student, "Sirius found out, somehow, and we were just about to make our way to get ready a welcoming party," again she winced, "for all the new staff."
"Oh how lovely!" Madelyne exclaimed, she'd always loved parties. Meeting new people was one of her favourite hobbies, an activity she pursued with great zest.
"Would you like to join us?" Sirius asked, smiling (what was in his opinion) seductively at her.
Seeing Sirius' game, Snape joined in, "Yes, please do. We could use your opinion in appropriate," he paused -what did you need for a party, anyway?- "food."
At Ms Harper's nod, both men extended their arms in invitation. Sirius, however, was slightly quicker off the mark, and Madelyne graciously took his proffered hand, oblivious to the triumphant smirk he shot at Snape, and they made their way down the halls. Snape, followed behind them, with Hermione bringing up the rear. It had not missed her attention that Snape had not deemed to offer her his arm. Arrogant jerk!
So with a fuming female at the tail, the quartet made their way to the Room of Requirement, with many a stop, so as Sirius could show the lovely lady, whose arm was linked to his, some of the delights of Hogwarts. Again it did not pass Hermione's notice that the tour Madelyne Harper was receiving of the school was much more thorough than the one Sirius had taken Hermione on not long ago. Men!
Hermione was suddenly taken back to a time when she had felt the exact same disappointment. It had been just a few weeks before the Yule Ball in the year of the Triwizard Tournament. Then she had been hopelessly waiting for one of the boys to get a clue, and just ask her to partner him already. As the days had progressed, the disappointment deep in her gut had grown. How could they overlook her? Did they not realise she was female? Again, more that ten years later, she was feeling precisely the same way. How awfully depressing!
She was not particularly ugly, she knew that. However, nor was she particularly beautiful. That was not false modesty, it was the truth. She was too short, and too lithe to be sexy. Her hair was too bushy, and her face too plain to be beautiful. She was lucky, she supposed, to have all the bits in the right places. She was no stunner, no goddess, but she was female, and a not-altogether-hideous female at that. Then why was it that men always seemed to forget she was there when someone prettier came along? There was more to females than looks. There was intelligence, kindness, compassion, loyalty, sincerity. Unfortunately, these traits always seemed to be overlooked in the presence of beauty. And that, unluckily, was Hermione's downfall. If these traits were in a higher regard, then Hermione Granger would be deemed exquisite.
Hermione sighed, must be 'that time of the month' soon. She always got a bit down when her period was due. So with a straightening of her shoulders, Hermione pushed her melancholy thoughts out of her head and strained her ears to hear what Sirius was talking about, purposely ignoring the man who had, surprisingly and quite unwittingly, hurt her feelings (or was it simply her pride?).
What Hermione was not to know was that both men were still quite well aware of her presence. Sirius was simply not paying much attention to her as he was hoping it would push Snape to start conversation with his lovely young friend. However, Snape did not seem to be in the mood to be pushed. Sirius internally shrugged, what could he do? Anyway, he admitted to himself, he was a bit preoccupied at the moment with the absolute darling creature walking beside him. She was stunning and, from what Sirius had been able to piece together from their conversations, she was also funny, warm, kind, and quite witty too. She also happened to be damned sexy.
Severus Snape would have had to agree with Sirius' description of Madelyne Harper, though maybe not quite so much the latter comment. However, much as he hated to admit it, his attention was solely on the bushy haired, troublesome woman stalking after him. She was annoyed, he could tell, though he did have to wonder at the cause. It was probably the loss of Sirius' attention, yet Black had continuously assured Snape that there was nothing going on between the he and Hermione. Though why Black thought he cared at all if Sirius and Ms Granger were an 'item', Severus could not fathom. As if he cared one swot about Ms Granger! Then why-oh-why did he seem to have all of sudden developed this fascination with his new Charms professor? Severus Snape was at a loss, something, which irked him to no end.
AN-When thinking of an appropriate new librarian, and a potential love interest for Sirius, I was very much tempted to make it Ginny Weasley. However, I didn't much like the thought of her getting with Sirius (a bit too young, and I like her and Harry), so I improvised. We have a red-head, warm, slightly bubbly female OC who is old enough to not make Sirius a pedophile. lol. What do you think of her? And don't worry she's not really as gorgeous as she was described (I do so hate having perfect characters). Remember that it was a jealous Hermione and a besotted Sirius that described her, so keep that in mind.
Okay so let me know what you think. I know the story line didn't develop much this chapter but there will be a party in the next update. So do we like it? Let me know. Thanks for reading.