Shopping and Firewhiskey... and Joss

Hermione answered the door, wondering who it was. No one really knocked when they came over.

'Oh! Professor Dumbledore! How wonderful to see you! Come in, please.' Dumbledore entered.

'There is no need to call me Professor, Miss Chapman.Call me Albus,' he said, sitting down in the nearest chair at the kitchen table. 'I have come to ask if you've thought about what I asked at Graduation.' Hermione nodded.

'And I stand by what I said there; I didn't actually need time to think. I'm more than glad to help out.'

'Wonderful. Well, I'd really rather be on my way, I have yet another school year to prepare for,' he said with a wink. Hermione smiled. 'I will send an owl soon with a note. Have a good day.'

'You too, Sir. I mean Albus,' she said, opening the door for him. And he was gone.

XzXzX

The apartment was a small, cheap apartment, but of course with a little bit of magic, no one could really tell. Hermione had fixed it up well. Simple, but well. Sirius had said on more than one occasion that it was magnificent, but Hermione had a feeling that was him trying to get her into bed night after night. Where Sirius was at the moment Hermione wasn't sure, but she was expecting him home soon. If he didn't get home soon she was going to have to leave without seeing him.

She and Lily were going out shopping. Not for the wedding, just shopping. The Hermione that had been in her second seventh year at Hogwarts would have been surprised. In reality, Lily wasn't as bad as she had first thought. But that was no reason to leave without letting Sirius know where she was going.

But by three o'clock there was still no sign of him, so she wrote the note and left.

XzXzX

'Hermione?' Sirius apparated into the apartment's living room, closely followed by Remus, James and Peter.

'Oh, didn't I tell you? She and Lily went out shopping. She and Lily. Why does that seem weird?' said James, walking into the kitchen and opening the cupboards.

'There's Firewhiskey in the middle one there,' said Sirius, picking the note off the table. 'She left a note. Won't be back until late. Don't wait up. What shopping can they possibly be doing?' he asked looking up. James shrugged.

'They're girls. They're a mystery. Anyone else want a Firewhiskey?' James pulled out three extras, giving one to each of the others. 'You do know what this means, right?'

'James, we are not going to the pub,' said Remus, taking a swig of his drink and dropping onto the couch. 'You COULD go to the Ministry and talk to your father about the Auror academy. Like you've been planning on doing for the past two weeks.'

'Yes, I could dear Mooney, but I'd much rather go to the pub. Do you agree, Sirius? Peter?' Sirius nodded absent mindedly, his eyes still going over the note, still wondering what the hell kind of shopping the girls could be doing, and Peter squeaked a tiny 'mhm' as an answer. 'That's settled, then. It's off to the pub. So are you coming or not, Remus?'

'Oh, fine.'

After a few hours of drinking, they were all a tad on the drunk side when someone unexpected entered. Her icey-blue eyes immediately locked on Sirius. Joss Rae saw a chance. There was no Hermione here, only a slightly drunk Sirius and three very drunk friends.

'Oh,' she said, standing at the table. 'Well isn't it a surprise to see you lot here.' She smiled, looking around the table, holding her gaze on Sirius last. 'Mind if I join you?'

XzXzX

Hermione came home completely zonked. She was tired beyond normality, and all she wanted was to crawl into bed. She entered the bedroom, carrying bags. They hit the floor, however, as her eyes fell on the bed.

There was Sirius, yes, but there was also someone who shouldn't be there. Hermione recognized the blond head.

The noise had woken Sirius and he sat up in the bed, rubbing his forehead, hoping to aid the killer headache. But when he saw the blond hair and Hermione, it only got worse.

'Hermione - '

'What the fuck are you doing?' she whispered.

'I was drunk.. I don't - '

'I was drunk is NOT a fucking excuse!' she screamed, waking Joss up. She turned to walk out the door.

'Hermione, wait!' But she had left, and apparated to the one person she could think to go to.

A\NWell there we go. Short again, yes, and it has been so long, but I've been very busy. And now it's my break, so I'm hoping to get a bit more done and up. Thank you very much to all my reviewers, it pushes me to write it when I get reviews.

So Review as soon as you're done reading so you get more!