Just A Stupid Crush

Chapter 6

The warm weather of summer was slowly turning into the cool, crisp weather of fall. It was well into October and things with Sirius have become… strange. He seems to be avoiding me and I don't know why. He's fine around Harry and Ron, and they don't seem to have noticed anything different about the way he is around me. On the other hand, they are boys and don't pay attention to things like that. I'm hoping that Sirius didn't find out that I like him and thinks that it's weird so he's avoiding me. I don't really know.

It was during dinner on Friday that Professor Dumbledore stood up and called for our attention, unnecessarily. Once everyone saw him stand up, they all got quiet.

"I have an announcement that I would like to make. This year during our winter break, anyone who will be staying here for the holidays is invited to the Ball that will be taking place on the night of the 24. Thank you, that is all," Professor Dumbledore said. Immediately after he was done speaking, excited whispers could be heard throughout the Hall.

Fantastic. This was just what I need. Something else to worry about. Well, there are a whole two months between now and the Ball. I guess I don't have to worry about it quite yet. However, I have a funny feeling it will be sneaking up on me very quickly if I tell myself not to think about it yet.

After dinner, I went to animagus training with Professor McGonagall. So far, my training was going very well. I am now able to shrink my hands down into paws and make soft, black fur grow on them. I can't hold it for very long, but I have been practicing every chance I get. It was very strange to see at first, but I'm getting used to it. Tonight I will be working on being able to transform my hands into paws and being able to hold it like that. Then maybe if I can get that down, I will work on transforming my feet. I was beginning to think that maybe this would not take all year for me to do.

Sirius' POV

Don't look at her. Don't look at her. Don't look at her. Darn it. I looked at her. It was during dinner Friday night and it was becoming harder and harder to ignore her. I feel awful for doing this, but I kept telling myself it was for the best. Sometimes I can see her giving me strange looks that clearly say, "Why are you doing this?" but I try to ignore it.

Unfortunately, ignoring her isn't making my feelings for her go away. I don't think Remus is very happy that I'm doing this either. Harry and Ron don't seem to notice. I treat them the same as I always have but try to ignore Hermione, which I know is cruel considering she doesn't even know why I'm doing this. It is necessary though as much as it is torturing me as well.

Now it was well after dinner the night Dumbledore made the announcement about the Ball. I figured Hermione was probably at her animagus training. I shook myself slightly. I can't be thinking about that. I need to stop thinking about her. Just then, I heard someone knocking on my door. I opened it and saw that it was just the person I didn't want it to be.

"Hello, Hermione," I said. She hasn't come to visit me by herself in a long time.

"Hi, Sirius," she said. I invited her inside and to have a seat. Since I had no idea what she wanted, I waited for her to say something. She was looking at me curiously for a moment before she said excitedly, "Look what I can do." She started taking off her shoes and socks. Is this what she is so excited about? I mean, I guess it's a big accomplishment. But then she held out her hands and feet and they slowly transformed into paws complete with black fur. I was astonished.

"Hermione, that's great! My goodness, you have only been working on this for a month and look how far you've gotten already," I said smiling proudly at her. She transformed them back and smiled a tired, but pleased smile at me. I was completely forgetting that I was supposed to be ignoring her.

"Are you mad at me," she asked suddenly serious. My insides froze but I tried to play it cool.

"Of course not. What would give you that impression?" I asked. This was killing me, but she wasn't to know that I have to ignore her.

"Maybe because you have been ignoring me for the past few weeks," she said pointedly. I decided to play dumb.

"Have I?" She looked at me like I was dumb. Then I saw a look in her eye that I did not like at all.

"Well, if you aren't mad at me then, would you mind writing me a recommendation for when I apply to University's?"

"Uh, yeah sure. No problem," I lied. Well, not about writing her a recommendation, but it would be a problem. Her face lit up though after I told her I would.

"Thank you so much, Sirius," she said truly sounding grateful. Then she said something about having homework to do and said goodbye.

"Bye, 'Mione," I said sure that she wouldn't hear since she was almost to the door now. I have never called her this nickname before, but I always thought it would be a nice nickname for her. She stopped at the door and turned to look at me. Oops, I guess she heard me.

"What did you call me?" she asked.

"'Mione, but if you don't want me to call you that, I don't have to… it just kind of slipped out," I said trying to explain myself.

"No," she said, "I like it," and with that she turned and left.

Things were getting worse. So much for trying to make the feelings go away.

Hermione's POV

Things were getting so much better. Although I could tell that he was just playing dumb about being mad at me, he didn't seem angry at all. He seemed very excited about how far I've gotten with my training. And he called me 'Mione. I signed contently. And he said he would write me a recommendation. I needed at least two and I have already asked Professor McGonagall. I thought it would be interesting to see what Sirius had to write.

I got back to the common room and scanned the room for Ginny and Natalie. I saw Natalie sitting at a table by herself. I wondered briefly where Ginny was. I walked up to Natalie.

"Hey, Natalie." She looked up at me.

"Hello, Hermione. You look happy. Just come from seeing a certain Professor?" She asked sweetly. I looked around to make sure that no one had overheard.

"Yes, actually. I need to talk to you and Ginny. Do you know where she is?"

"Detention with Snape. She knocked over a jar of ginger roots during class," she said smiling at the memory. "She should be back any minute though if you want to wait for her to get back," Natalie said calmly. I said I would wait and sat down at the table with her.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Ginny came into the common room. I told her that I needed to talk to her and Natalie so we made our way towards my room. They sat down on my bed and I sat on the chair by my desk. They were both grinning madly at me.

"So, what's going on?" Ginny asked. I told them everything that had just happened, only leaving out the parts about my animagus training.

They looked at each other and said together, "Aw, 'Mione."

"So, is that who you are going to ask to go to the Ball with you?" Natalie asked me.

"Yeah, right. Students can't ask Professors."

"I'd do it anyway," Ginny said.

"Yeah, okay," I said rolling my eyes. We continued talking and joking around about things before I finally kicked them out and finished my homework before going to bed. I sighed contently before thinking of Sirius and falling asleep.

AN: So, this was chapter 6… I hope you enjoyed it. I know skipped like an entire month, but things were moving too fast and I needed to space things out a little. I hope it still turned out alright. I still haven't found a story that uses the potion idea, but I'm still looking. Please review this chapter and tell me what was good, what was bad, anything. Thanks!

PadfootBlack4Ever