Hermione was having difficulty paying attention to her Potions class. She had gotten three owls at breakfast that morning, each from Sirius, each with a single rose. They had been sweet, begging for her forgiveness and for the chance to talk things over. But she was living by Neville's words, making him sweat it out a little bit. He had hurt her deeply, thinking she would get bored and dump him, that he went into the relationship without any expectations. And Harry had been right when he sent her an owl that morning, too. Sometimes it took drastic measures to get through to Sirius.
Slughorn, who had come out of retirement yet again because of the shortage of teachers, was rambling on about the differences between certain healing potions, and she found no use for the whole lecture. She could find that out by reading the book, and her mind was constantly going over what she was going to say to Sirius when she finally started talking to him again.
There was a knock on the door. Slughorn, looking confused, walked to the door. He had a quick conversation with someone in the hall, then stood back for a house-elf carrying a large bouquet of red and gold roses. Hermione's stomach sank, she knew who the flowers were for.
"These is for you, Miss," the house elf bowed, holding the vase up to her.
"Thank you," Hermione muttered, taking the flowers and trying to shove them as far into the shadows next to her work station as she possibly could.
"Well, well, well, Miss Granger," Slughorn chuckled, looking over the flowers. "You must have some admirer. That must have run him a pretty knut or two."
"Yes, sir," she murmured, then glanced at the flowers again. It was then she realized that the gold roses were not just gold colored, they were made of gold.
"Care to indulge an old man?"
She looked to Ginny, who was barely containing her giggles. "He's a fool if he thinks he can buy my forgiveness, Professor," she replied.
"I see," he winked, and leaned in to speak to her in a low voice. "Make sure to bring him to my Christmas party this year. I'm sure he must be crazy over you to send you that during your class."
"Yes, Professor," she nodded, but she rolled her eyes while he walked away. Slughorn was only interested in her mystery suitor because he was obviously rich. Though he would probably be much more interested if he knew the man who had sent her the roses was none other than the infamous Sirius Black.
"The man is making an impressive effort," Ginny whispered across the table as the class sunk back into its stupor with Slughorn's resumed lecture.
"I mean it. He can spend all his money in Gringotts, I don't want him to keep throwing material things at me. I want him to make me believe he wants to stay together."
"No chance of that if you aren't talking to him," she pointed out.
"I'm giving him a couple days to think," she smirked.
"If he's the typical male 'a couple days' is more time than he's thought in the whole of his life up to this point," she giggled.
"Did you get into a fight with Harry?" she raised an eyebrow.
"No!" she hissed. "He's just not much of one for thinking things through at times."
"Girls, if you don't mind," Slughorn scolded, and they quieted down by looking away from each other. They managed to make it through Potions without any more distractions, and Hermione dropped the flowers off in her dorm on their way to the Great Hall for lunch.
"When are you going to stop letting him stew?" Ginny asked as they sat down next to each other, across from Neville and Luna.
"Maybe tomorrow," Hermione shrugged. "The flowers put me in a good mood."
"You might have a chance before that," Luna said, gazing towards the ceiling.
"Why's that?" she asked.
"Isn't that Sirius in the doorway?" she shot a look towards the exit.
Hermione looked, and sure enough the large black dog was sitting just outside the doors, staring at her. He perked up when he saw her looking at him, and his tail gave a little wag.
She smiled and turned back to her plate. "Think it would be cruel of me to make him wait?" she said under her breath.
"Yes, if you don't go talk to that poor man under your own power right now I'm going to drag you over there kicking and screaming," Ginny threatened.
"Fine," she sighed as if in protest. She gathered her things, grabbed a couple sandwiches, and walked over towards Sirius. He stood, tail wagging enthusiastically, as she approached.
"Come, boy," she said to him. They walked across the grounds towards the lake and found a somewhat sheltered and private tree. She sat against it, and moments later Sirius was sitting across from her, back in human form.
"Hermione," he said, grabbing her hand and holding it tightly. He was a mess, it looked as if he hadn't shaved or showered, his eyes looked as if he had a couple restless nights, and his clothes weren't matched.
"You look like hell," she muttered, reaching up and pushing his hair from his face.
"I've missed you. I'm so sorry for what I said, it was stupid. I love you, I don't want to lose you, I don't know how I managed to get you in the first place, so you have to forgive me for being insecure. What would a woman like you want with some guy like me?"
"You underestimate yourself," she muttered, pulling him so he was sitting next to her, their hands entwined. "Or overestimate me. One of the two."
"I'll do anything to have you back, 'Mione," he said, reaching over and cupping her face with his hand. "You want to go to Azkaban? I'll take you there tomorrow. I'll even hug a bloody Dementor, if that's what it takes."
Her jaw dropped. "You would take me to Azkaban, even though you're totally against the idea?"
"If that's what it takes to get you back, yes, in an instant."
"What if I told you that I'd take you back without you taking me there?"
"We're back together?" he looked at her excitedly.
"We were never apart," she said, staring deep into his eyes. "I just thought you could use a little time to think about what you said."
"Are you sure you're not a dark witch in disguise?" he asked with a relieved chuckle. "Because that was pretty cruel."
"Sirius, it's not all forgive and forget," she said as be bent to kiss her. "I really felt used when I found out you thought it wasn't going to last, that you were 'having fun while it lasts'. It makes me feel used. I don't want to stay in this if you can't trust me."
He studied her eyes, looking surprised. "Honestly, it's not you I don't trust. It's me and my own big stupid mouth. I've never had a relationship that I cared about as much as this one, so I'm not quite sure of what to do or say. There's a reason James got married instead of me. Hell, even Remus managed to get a wonderful wife, and he was anti-dating because of his furry little problem. Just never thought something like this was in the cards for me. I'm more a flavor of the moment to most girls, and that's suited me just fine up until now."
"What changed it?"
"Dying," he chuckled. "After I came back, and through all those funerals, I got to thinking. What did I leave behind? The closest thing I had to a grieving family member was Harry, to everyone else my death was like 'oh, he's gone and it stinks, next subject'."
"There was a lot going on," she said, looking guilty.
"It's okay, love. You barely knew me, I can't expect you to be sobbing in black over my grave."
"You don't really have a grave," she pointed out.
"Damn. I thought you would have spared me the expense," he smirked, kissing her.
"Still talking," she said, pushing away from him. "Are you serious about taking me to Azkaban? Because you know I really, really, really want to go."
"And I really, really, really don't want you to go. But I told you I would take you, and I will. But only after I see what you hope to accomplish by going. And I'm not really going to hug a Dementor."
"I have my proposal all ready in my room," she said, shooting a look at the castle. "I can show it to you right now."
"You take me to your room, love, and I can't be held accountable for my actions," he muttered, nuzzling her neck and kissing it lightly.
"You keep doing that, and I won't give a damn," she replied with a giggle as he nibbled at her earlobe.
"Exactly what I wanted to hear," he said, standing up and pulling her to her feet. He took her hand and ran towards the castle, but she stopped them before they made it to the steps up to the entrance hall.
"Um, Padfoot," she said, looking at him, then at the people just inside the open front doors. By the time she looked back at him the large black dog was back. He grabbed the sleeve of her robes and tugged her inside the building. They ran right into Ginny and Neville in the entrance hall as they were making their way to their next class.
"Guess I should tell Binns you're not going to be in class today," Ginny smirked with a glance at Sirius, who was smiling goofily at them, mouth still full of Hermione's sleeve.
"I doubt he would ever notice," she rolled her eyes.
"Should I make arrangements to stay away from our rooms for a while?" Neville asked, looking nervous.
"I'll stay in my room, I promise," she said, and she allowed herself get tugged away by the large dog. Sirius let Hermione take the lead after that, and she ran through hidden corridors to get to the dorms as quickly as possible.
"Nagini!" she gave a laughing shriek at the portrait as the dog jumped up and started licking her face. They stumbled through the portrait hole, and the barking laughs turned into human laughs.
"Which one's yours?" he asked, looking towards the two dorm rooms.
"On the left," she said, and he tugged her inside. Once the door was warded he tossed her gently onto the bed, then climbed atop her, kissing her as if he hadn't had the chance to in months. He undressed her deliciously slowly, watching as the fabric of each item slowly moved off her skin, as if he needed to make a copy of the image in his brain.
He started at her foot, and kissed slowly upwards. She felt the fire building between her legs, but she could only watch as he slowly moved further upwards. She realized this was not going to be any quick make-up sex, and she was more than willing to let him take his time.
When he finally made it up her leg he gently pushed apart her thighs, and spent a moment admiring her. Without a word he lowered his mouth to her, tongue running slowly over her, savoring the sight, taste, and smell of her. Her head fell back as her eyes closed, and she focused on the bursts of pleasure and the ache he was causing her.
She wasn't sure how much more she could take, and as if he knew he stopped, disrobed, and positioned himself on top of her. His lips met hers in a light kiss as he entered her slowly. He moved inside her carefully, wanting to take his time. There was no race to the finish this time. He was taking as much time with her as he could get, and it excited her even more to think it.
She started raising her hips to meet his, their bodies in synch with each other, her hands gripping him to her as if loosening her grip might cause him to leave. His lips wouldn't leave hers, his body pressed to hers as much as possible. She could feel him shudder as she ran her hands over him.
She felt her climax building for some time. Though she moved her hips more quickly to encourage him to push her over the edge he didn't comply. It was almost torture, feeling it coming and not having the pleasure crash over her, but in the end it was worth the wait. She finally was unable to continue concentrating on kissing him as she felt every muscle in her body tighten, screaming for the release that finally came with a loud moan.
He didn't stop his movements, though she felt almost too tender to touch, until with a moan of her name he spilled himself into her. He didn't leave her, though, just looked down into her eyes.
"I want you to be mine forever, Hermione," he whispered against her lips.
"Is that a proposal?" she asked in shock.
"That's whatever you want it to be," he replied, kissing her face and neck lightly. "I can't stand to be away from you, to think that we're not together."
"You're mine, Sirius," she giggled as he tickled her with the stubble on his chin. "I'm not letting you go anywhere."
He laid down next to her and pulled her to him, pulling the covers over them to protect her from the drafty castle. "I love you," he muttered sleepily.
"I love you, too," she replied, but he was already lightly snoring. She couldn't sleep against him, however, because her mind kept chanting 'Mrs. Hermione Black'. She wasn't sure if she was ready for it yet.
