A/N: I was asked for a short, cute, fluffy story while I worked on my main fic. Here it is! This isn't connected with NSI, even though it's the same pairing. Enjoy! And please review. Thanks for the idea, Becca!
Background: Hermione is 23, and Sirius is 45. Both of them are professors at Hogwarts. Sirius has been a professor for 8 years, while this is her first year. The two of them have recently paid attention to the growing attraction between them, and are now going out on their first date.
Hermione shivered, snuggling closer into her blankets, not wanting to wake up and face the day. It was too darned cold out there, and it was a Sunday. There was no reason for her to get up right now, was there?
Suddenly, she sat up, a slow grin crossing her lips. There was a reason. She just remembered the plans she and Sirius had made the night before. She wasn't exactly sure what the plans were, but he asked her to meet him by the Great Hall, and dress warmly.
With all of the students gone for Christmas Break, and returning this afternoon, Hermione made it down to the Great Hall with no interruptions. She glanced around for Sirius, and spotted him jogging inside from the grounds. Hermione began to smile softly to herself when she saw him. His jet black hair sparkled with the snowflakes, and he looked cold. He shook himself off like a dog, and started over towards her.
He smiled warmly, kissing her cheek, before stepping back and eyeing her appraisingly. Hermione raised a brow, before giggling, and twirling around for him.
"Like what you see?" She asked, batting her eyelashes playfully. Sirius laughed, running a hand through his hair.
"Very much, but that wasn't really the point." He replied, grinning. "I was making sure you'll be warm enough for this." Hermione smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"I'm sure you'll keep me warm." She said softly. Sirius raised a brow, seeming highly amused.
"I could manage that, I think." He agreed.
"So what are the plans for today?" Hermione asked, her tone more businesslike. Sirius grinned slightly at the change. This was the girl he was more used to dealing with. He loved the flirting, but it certainly caught him off guard.
"You'll see. Hungry?" He asked, tilting his head a little. She nodded, smiling.
"Mmm, yes, I am." She giggled a little. "I had a tough time waking up today. I didn't want to get out of bed."
"I felt the same way." He admitted, laughing. Everyone knew that Sirius wasn't a morning person. In fact, it was rumored that no one had ever woken Sirius up without causing a fight. Hermione was determined to change that.
"Right, breakfast. Now that I'm thinking about it, I should have asked you to meet me at my house, instead of the great hall, but…" Sirius trailed off, grinning a little. "But I never think these things through, so yeah." Hermione laughed softly, reaching for Sirius' hand. The two of them walked to the gates in relative silence, each getting used to being together without a hundred other people around.
Once they reached the gates, Sirius stopped, about to ask a question, before starting to laugh. Hermione frowned in confusion, looking up at him.
"Sorry. I was about to ask a question, before realizing the answer. And feeling a little foolish for thinking of it." He explained.
"What were you going to ask?" She still seemed confused.
"I thought to ask if you knew where I lived, when I remembered that Harry lives there too, and well, you've probably been there more often than I have in the past few years." Sirius told her, still smiling. Hermione laughed softly.
"Probably, yes." She agreed.
"After you, then." Sirius let go of her hand, albeit reluctantly, and stepped back. With a smile to Sirius, Hermione apparated to his house in London. She glanced around, a look of amazement in her eyes. Unbelievable. Last time she had been in this house, and every time before it, the house was a complete mess. It had been painfully obvious that a couple of bachelors lived there.
Now, however, everything was in perfect order. Clothes weren't strewn all over the floor, and it actually looked like… No, it couldn't be. It actually looked like one of the boys had dusted. Unbelievable. Never in a million years would she have believed this possible. Sirius apparated in, and he couldn't help but laugh at the look on her face.
"Don't look so stunned, 'Mione." He teased. Hermione blushed a little, laughing.
"I don't think I've ever seen it looking like this." She replied, still laughing a bit. Sirius nodded, grinning.
"It hasn't looked like this since the day I moved in." He admitted, running a hand through his hair. "Whatever you do, ignore Harry's accounts of last night." Hermione tilted her head, looking at him.
"What happened?" She asked curiously. Sirius merely laughed.
"Nothing, nothing…" He said a little too quickly. Hermione pouted.
"What happened?" She asked again. Sirius whined slightly, laughing.
"Harry and I cleaned?" Sirius offered, hoping that was enough of an explanation. Of course it wasn't.
"Well I can tell that…" She replied, her tone amused. "But why?" Sirius looked at her, frowning slightly.
"Because you were coming over." Sirius said softly, as if this were obvious. Hermione blinked in confusion, about to reply, before realization struck her. She blushed a bit. She should have known that this was no ordinary visit. Before now, she had been over as Harry's best friend. Suddenly, she was Sirius' girlfriend, which made things a little different.
"So where is Harry?" Hermione tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, still blushing a little. Sirius shrugged slightly.
"Out with Gin, I expect." He replied, starting in towards the kitchen. Hermione followed, glancing around as she did.
"What can I help with?" She asked, watching as Sirius started to make breakfast. Sirius looked over, grinning slightly. Hermione gasped lightly in surprise as Sirius picked her up, setting her down on the counter.
"Sit and talk to me." He replied, grinning at her, and going back to making breakfast. Hermione laughed, obeying.
The two of them talked for quite a while, flirting as they did. Sirius was making a nice breakfast for the two of them, and by now, it was almost done. He'd relented and let Hermione help a little, but she was still seated on the counter.
Sirius moved towards Hermione, reaching for the bowl of waffle batter that she had just finished mixing. He paused, however. Giving her a questioning look, Sirius set the bowl down, simply meeting her eyes for the moment.
Reaching up, Hermione rested her hand on the back of his neck, pulling him towards her. Smiling gently, Hermione leaned forward, kissing Sirius. Sirius rested his hands on the counter, one on either side of Hermione, letting her make the moves. Right as Hermione was about to deepen the kiss, they heard a sound from the doorway. Sirius and Hermione broke apart quickly, turning to look towards the door.
"Uhhh…" Harry stuttered, blushing beet red. "Umm, right, hi…" He ran a hand through his hair. "I was… Right. Going now." With that, Harry turned, walked out of the kitchen, and walked out of the house. Sirius and Hermione looked at each other, and both of them burst out laughing.
"That probably wasn't good." Sirius admitted, grinning.
"He'll get used to it eventually." Hermione pointed out. Sirius just laughed, finishing up breakfast.
After a pleasant breakfast, the two of them headed out to the park. On the walk there, Sirius saw a few neighbors and friends. He greeted them pleasantly enough, but they all got the picture to go away for the day.
Hermione started to pull away when she saw where they were headed. She was terrible on ice skates!
"C'mon, I'll be with you." Sirius said softly, offering her a smile. Hermione started to warm up to the idea of skating today, and finally, she nodded, smiling.
"Alright." She replied. Within a little while, the two of them were out on the rink. The day was early enough that there were only a few other people out on the ice. Even Hermione was having trouble finding people to run into. Granted, she gave Sirius credit for that.
After realizing that Hermione really wasn't good on skates, he kept one hand on her waist at all times, offering her some support. As for himself, he had been skating a million times a year since he was a few years old and hanging out with James Potter. He knew what he was doing.
Hermione was paying almost no attention to the music that was playing over the speakers. She was a little too focused on the feel of Sirius' hand against her waist, and the simple pleasure of being with him. She did, however, notice when they started to play a slow song. She blushed gently, making Sirius smile.
As the rink really began to fill up, the two of them started towards the edges. It was just about lunch time, and they were cold and hungry. Hot chocolate sounded good, so Sirius bought them each a cup of it. They took the hot chocolate over to a bench by the outdoor fire pit by the rink. Hermione wrapped her fingers around the mug, savoring the warmth.
She shivered with cold, despite the hot chocolate and the fire. Sirius smiled a little to himself, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Hermione smiled up at him, snuggling close.
"Mmm, thank you." She said softly. Sirius kissed the top of her head, smiling still.
"My pleasure." He replied. Hermione smiled to herself, taking another sip of her drink. She remained silent for a moment, searching for a topic.
"I can't believe that the year is half over." Hermione brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. Sirius nodded, frowning slightly.
"Went by fast as a student, but it's even faster as a teacher." He agreed. Hermione tilted her head a little, watching him.
"What were you like as a student?" She asked. She'd heard stories, sure, but never from him. Sirius began to laugh.
"Terrible." He replied. Hermione laughed as well.
"I was looking for a bit more than a one word answer…" She giggled.
"Oh, right. You want stories?" Sirius asked, his tone amused. Hermione nodded.
"Of course." She leaned her head against his shoulder, listening.
"Let's see…" Sirius began, looking around for inspiration. "Well, you know that Jamie and I were inseparable. And, well, we were troublemakers. We were especially evil to each other." He said, laughing. "He hated to be cold, right? More than anything in the world. So every single morning of the summer after our 5th year, I woke him up, telling him it was snowing outside. Well, he was no more of a morning person than I am, really.
"He'd actually believe me, and rant and whine about hating winter, and not wanting to get up for classes…Of course it wasn't snowing, and when he figured it out, he'd end up tackling me and we'd dive into the lake, still wrestling. We did that a lot." Sirius paused, taking a sip of his drink. Hermione smiled softly.
"One morning, he finally remembered the mornings before, and realized that I had to be joking. Unfortunately for him, I had calculated when he'd figure this out. I set up a spell on his bed to go off the moment he got out of bed. He stood, ready to dive at me, and was suddenly covered in snow." He paused again, looking thoughtful.
"Really, he should have killed me for that. I think he wanted to. Once he shook off the snow, he chased me downstairs and into the dining room. I was on the other side of the room, trying to keep the table between myself and him. I think I spent 2 hours trying to talk him out of killing me. I told him that he'd have no one to prank with if I were gone." He nodded proudly. "It worked, eventually. It would have worked much sooner if I hadn't been laughing through every word." Hermione laughed softly, shaking her head.
"Sounds like you two were a handful." She commented, smiling. Sirius nodded, laughing.
"We were. 4 different professors retired while we were at school, every single one of them claiming that the Marauders were too much to handle." Sirius told her, laughing still. "That's what Dumbledore reminded me of when he asked me to come teach. He told me that I'd driven off enough professors in my day, and it was high time I made up for it. Besides, he figured I'd be able to help out with the troublemakers." Sirius shrugged a little.
"You're good with them." Hermione agreed. Sirius smiled warmly.
"Thanks." He replied simply.
"What about you?" She asked, tilting her head.
"Hmm?" He frowned slightly, a bit confused.
"Do you prefer hot or cold?" She explained, laughing a little at her own vagueness.
"I don't really have a preference." He replied, shrugging. "I love winter, and snow… But I can't deny that a nice warm fire is pleasant too."
"Fair enough." She smiled warmly.
"And you?" He asked.
"I agree with you, they both have their benefits." She replied, continuing to smile.
"Alright, you know what got me into teaching, what got you interested?" He asked, smiling at her.
"Mmm…" Hermione giggled. "That's easy. I've always wanted to teach. Granted, as a little girl, I wanted to teach 2nd graders. But teaching is teaching."
"2nd graders?" Sirius raised a brow. "7 year olds to 17 year olds… Minor switch, but sure, that works."
"Dumbledore asked me to fill in for a few years. I may still go work with kids someday." She added. Sirius smiled again.
"You like kids then, I take it." He said. She nodded.
"Love them. Any age." She smiled happily, before tilting her head. "Do you?"
"Most of the time." He nodded. "Ok, I take it back. I love kids, but not when they're my cousins." He laughed.
"Cousins?" She asked, continuing to smile.
"I had some really evil younger cousins when I was growing up." He explained, laughing. "These kids made me look like a saint."
"That had to be tough." Hermione teased, giggling.
"See, I had fun as a kid. These twins…" Sirius shuddered, laughing. "I swear that these twins had only one purpose in life, and that was to make mine a living hell. They were, are, 5 years younger than I am. John and Jeff are their names. From the time they learned how to crawl, they would torment me. They were perfect little angels when there were adults around, of course."
"Of course." Hermione agreed.
"Oh well, I got my revenge when they started dating." Sirius added, his eyes gleaming with mischief.
"I don't want to know." Hermione said quickly, laughing. Sirius cackled.
"Baby pictures." He said simply.
Laughing, they stood, starting off on a walk towards the lake. Sirius slid his arm lightly around Hermione's waist, making her smile again. Once they reached the lake, they stopped. Hermione stood in front of Sirius, leaning her head back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him.
They stood like that in silence for quite a while, watching a beautiful sunset. Finally, Hermione tilted her head back, looking up at Sirius for a moment. Turning slowly in his arms, she wrapped her own arms around his neck, kissing him gently. He returned the kiss, this one far more simple than their earlier kiss in the kitchen.
Finally pulling away, Hermione took Sirius' hand. It was getting late, and they both had classes to teach in the morning. Sirius offered her a slightly bittersweet smile, knowing what she was thinking, even though he hated it. He kissed her lightly once more, nodding.
"I know." He said softly. Hermione smiled weakly.
"Today has been fun." She offered, and he smiled.
"Yeah, it has. We'll have to do something else soon." He sounded almost hopeful. Hermione nodded.
"Very soon." She agreed.
"Will you be alright getting back to Hogwarts?" He asked. She knew that he was planning to go talk to Harry still tonight. She nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
"Mmm, yes. I'll see you in the morning?" It was more of a statement than a question.
"Breakfast." He replied, nodding. Leaning up, she kissed him once more.
"G'night, then." With that, Hermione apparated back to Hogwarts. She headed towards her rooms, a soft smile on her lips. Once there, she flopped onto her bed, smiling slowly. She closed her eyes, thinking over the day, and giggling to herself.
Sirius watched her go, running a hand through his hair before starting back for home.
"How was it?" Harry asked, the moment Sirius walked in the door.
"Incredible."
The End