7

~O~
Over the next weeks—after a few, initial misses and bumping of heads—things simmered down at Grimmauld Place. Hermione stopped feeling like she had to be nervous around him or embarrassed about her breakup...or needing a shoulder to cry on. And Sirius, well, Sirius proved to have much more depth and caring than she'd ever seen from him. Though Sirius never asked her out yet, Hermione decided it best not to ask why he hadn't. Not that she cared, that had all been Ginny's idea and meddling. Besides, she didn't want to ruin the friendship developing between them...or the easy camaraderie they now had with one another. They even got comfortable enough to wear pajamas around each other or exchange wordless nods in the morning as she brewed the coffee and he put the bread in the toaster. They kind of tiptoed around each other while giving each other exactly the space they needed.

Hermione Granger had never expected to enjoy being a roommate—albeit temporarily—of Sirius Black. Or tolerate living in close quarters with the older wizard without arguing. Yet it was true. They seldom argued like they used to...probably due to the fact that Sirius no longer had any house-elfs and Kreacher had long been sent away for early retirement on another continent.

"Thank you for letting me stay," Hermione said, not for the first time, as they sat around the breakfast table in their usual routine. She bit into a piece of toast, which was crunchy but not too crunchy and not burnt. Just as she liked it. Sirius had made it for her.

Sirius held a newspaper while pointing his wand to mix his cup of tea automatically. "Don't mention it," he said without lifting his eyes from the paper. "You've been here three weeks. Hardly a stretch. The Order was here three years and I didn't complain."

"I mean it...it's really great of you."

"You can stop saying that Hermione. I know. You don't want to impose, or inconvenience me, but you're really not. It's a giant house." He smirked. "As long as you're not Snape, in which case, yes you can bugger off."

Hermione smirked but lifted her chin to stare at him. "Nonetheless...I'm going to start looking for a flat soon, promise."

She stirred more sugar into her cup and took a sip.

Sirius finally put down his newspaper and glared at her. "That's not necessary. At least not yet."

"I'm not going to breakdown and cry again, I promise you." She held up her hands defensively. "I'm over Ron."

Sirius lifted his eyebrow. "If you say so."

"Please."

Sirius snorted and Hermione had to hold back the urge to laugh at how touchy he got whenever her feelings were involved. She'd never known Sirius to be that caring about anyone, let alone her, when she wasn't his godson. Sirius loved Harry fiercely. She'd always been Harry's sidekick to him, and on the bleachers of Sirius's attention til now. Which felt rather odd to get his attention this late in life.

They fell back into eating breakfast without talking.

Til Hermione decided to not let his comment about not being over Ron slide. He'd sounded way too skeptical for her liking. Obviously, she couldn't wholly be over Ron, but she was certainly at least half way there or more. She'd certainly gone past the blubbering and crying-over-him stage.

"In fact, I'm going out tonight," she said.

Sirius put down his newspaper for a second time. "Oh really?"

"Yup," she said popping the p and finished her drink.

Sirius paused to look at her before narrowing his eyes. "With who?"

Merlin, for someone who apparently didn't care enough to ask her out, even as a favour for a friend, Sirius was sure being territorial about whom she dated. Or was he merely being protective in a fatherly way? Hermione couldn't tell which. Though his concern reminded her far too much of the 'Fragile Handle with Care' label that seemed to be plastered on her back. She really, truly, desperately wanted to get rid of that label so people could stop feeling sorry for her and treating her with kid gloves...including Sirius himself. It was starting to irritate her how he treated her lately like she was made of glass.

"A date."

"Really?" Sirius frowned.

"Yes really!" Hermione scoffed. Did both Ginny and Sirius think the only way she could date was thru Ginny arranging for his bloody services?! Which by the way never happened. Hermione felt like she was going mad sometimes in between Ginny's meddling and Sirius's standoffishness. Not to tout her own horn, but Hermione knew she was hot. Okay, not a beauty queen hot. But next door girl hot, would-you-lend-her-a-cup-of-sugar-hot and yes she could rock a pair of mini shorts and look great in a dress and heels...should she ever choose to wear them. Yes. She could easily get a guy to ask her on a date, if she merely batted her eyes at them...

...or just so happened to be in the same department fundraiser, so technically it wasn't a date-date. But Sirius didn't need to know that.

She didn't feel like batting her eyelashes at anyone yet. That didn't mean she wasn't over Ron. But the only men she was around lately were either Sirius or the ones at work. She didn't see anyone else.

"A colleague," she said finally. "There's a little get together tonight. Food, wine, cheese. I thought I'd go."

Sirius snorted. "Sounds fun." Sirius rapped his knuckles against the wood grain of the table, his chair leaning back onto its hind legs. "I have a date too."

"You have a date every night."

"Not every single night."

"Might as well be. Though who counts? You're right though I think you skipped Sundays. Attended church those mornings instead?"

"You know I attend hangovers from Saturday night Sunday mornings," Sirius said none-too-kindly.

Hermione felt her cheeks rush with blood. Why were they getting into this argument now? They had been getting along so great til this morning. Three bloody peaceful weeks til this unlucky morning where he had to act like a prat. Well, she had enough of his mockery.

She pushed back her chair from the table. The chair's legs loudly screeched against the wood floors.

"I better get ready to go."

"At 10am in the morning?" Sirius laughed. "What kind of date starts at 11?" He laughed even louder. "Or does it start at 12 darling? You might get there in time to play Bingo at the old folk's home!"

Hermione hissed. "It's a conference fundraiser date, not that you would understand since you've never fundraised in your life!"

"In other words, not a date!" Sirius concluded cheerfully.

"It's a conference date!"

"Not a date!"

"Ernie McMillan is going to be there. He's taking me," she finally said, which was perfectly true. Ernie always had soft-spot for her, which until now, she'd always ignored.

She enjoyed the smacked pride on his face.

"McMillan?" Sirius sneered, his jaw slack.

"Yes, McMillan. The lawyer," she informed him. "He's done well for himself," she added in to rub in his face of how he'd never done anything with his life since his release.

Did Sirius seem disappointed he was wrong about her date, or jealous about her going on date? Neither seemed clear and at this point she'd had enough of his teasing to care to find out.

"I'm going now, bye Sirius."

"Wait, I wanted to tell you something—"

Without listening to anything else Sirius might say, Hermione left and stormed upstairs to her bedroom. She got dressed in five minutes flat so she would be ready to go out the door. As she grabbed her work briefcase, she briefly examined herself in the mirror: a grey pencil skirt and matching grey jacket. It was business casual, not romantic. But she was going with Ernie, after all, and she didn't want to give him the idea she was there for anything more than fundraising for their department. She chewed on her lip as she briefly considered grabbing the red dress, just to flaunt it before Sirius as she strutted out the house like that...but she decided against being petty. Though Sirius's behavior earlier hadn't been mature either.

Before quickly exiting Grimmauld Place, she grabbed a pair of heels...but stuffed the heels in her purse, not daring to wear them yet or if at all. If she saw other of her colleagues wearing heels, she might slip them on. Until then, she'd spend a few hours working off-hours in her office prepping for the fundraiser and finishing the Elf-Liberation Fund portfolio.

~o~

A/N: Thank you to everyone reading and please review if you get the chance.

Is Hermione going out with Ernie only to make Sirius jealous? is sirius jealous or is he just 'concerned' for her?

Also if you are bored during the lockdown I've been watching lots of Dollar Vigilante on youtube and I may have developed a bit of a crush on him lol. He's a dilf and has lots of interesting ideas.