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The knock on the door startled Hermione a little, breaking her out of her thoughts about the case she was working on, reports about some ghouls in an old Muggle cemetery. The perspective of a visitor filled her with apprehension, the last thing she or anyone in their department needed was more work, they were already stretched thin. When Hermione decided to apply for the department of Control of Magical Creatures, she genuinely thought that she would be able to fight for rights of magical creatures such as house elves and centaurs, not that her work would mainly consist of chasing unruly creatures that threatened human lives or the secrecy of Wizards’ world. Basically magical animal control… and unfortunately there were plenty of magical beings that didn't care about the statute of secrecy.
She raised her eyes from the file on her desk and called, “Come in,” because no one of her two presents at the time coworkers bothered to do anything, not even look up from what they were doing.
To her great relief the open door revealed smiling Sirius, holding a small container in his hands.
“Hello, Kitten.” He walked towards her desk. “I know that you have a ton of work and we both know that it's always ending with you forgetting to take your lunch break so I decided to bring something to eat for you on my way to Wizengamot. Especially because Milky made one of your favourites, turkey salad with peaches.”
“Oh, Sirius, you didn’t have to do that, but thank you so much and pass my thank you to Milky too.” Hermione knew that she was blushing furiously at the care that he showed her in the past years and even more in the past months. Somehow she still didn’t get used to having someone who was doing for her exactly what she usually did for others.
“I know, I wanted to,” Sirius handed her the container. “And I will pass the message, she'll be delighted to hear from you. Actually, maybe you will come over for dinner today? Milky is making pumpkin soup if I saw correctly when I was leaving and we could talk about those new laws that are going to be discussed today by Wizengamot.”
Sirius sent her such a hopeful look that she was powerless to resist and she could only nod her head. “It'll be my pleasure.”
Her promise to visit him immediately made him smile even more brightly, like a little boy that just heard that Christmas would be earlier this year. “Is seven alright?”
“Yes, perfect.”
“Then see you in the evening, Kitten. I wish I could talk some more, but I need to hurry downstairs to Wizengamot.” However, before he left he still found a few seconds to put Hermione's wayward hair strand behind her ear.
Of course it made her only blush even more, and to think that before him she couldn't remember blushing even once in her life. While she watched him leave the room, she subconsciously touched the place his fingers stroked.
“Fucking finally!” Draco, who worked there as part of his punishment and resocialization, shouted as soon as the door closed behind Sirius.
“What?” Hermione asked, genuinely confused, while their other coworker, Talia, snickered under her breath.
“You and my cousin finally got your shit together and… well, got together.” There was a genuine enthusiasm in his voice.
He even had an exasperated but fond smile on his face, which only served to confuse Hermione further, as she truly couldn’t understand what he was talking about and why he even seemed to care so much.
“What do you mean? I don’t understand.” She tilted her head to the side, a gesture that according to Sirius made her act like a canine more than him.
Draco sighed and pinched his nose, before taking a deep breath and replying slowly, like he was worried that she wouldn’t understand him otherwise. “You and Sirius… you finally admitted your feelings for each other and got together… as in a relationship… a romantic one.”
Hermione blinked a few times trying to comprehend what she just heard, she couldn’t have him think like that. “But we are not. There is nothing like that between us.”
“Oh, for fuck sake!” Talia exclaimed, also stopping her work and even setting her pen down, to direct all her attention to Hermione.
“Please, Granger, tell me you’re joking.” Draco looked at her pleadingly.
“We’re just friends, like I told you, there is nothing like that between us,” Hermione tried to explain and hide how far from the truth it was and how much she loved Sirius… in a definitely romantic way.
The pleading look from Draco’s face disappeared immediately, just to be replaced by a death glare. “I know that I’m not ‘the brightest witch of my age’ but don’t try to insult my intelligence by saying that there is nothing there. Your eyes… No, what I’m talking about… Your entire face lit up the moment Sirius opened the door… and to bring you lunch, to just make things even more glaringly obvious. And if it wasn’t enough he basically invited you for a date this evening.”
“It’s just a dinner,” Hermione interrupted him, embarrassed that clearly they were way more obvious than she thought. “We have them a few times a week, it’s nothing special.”
“Sweet Morgana…” Talia moaned and Hermione heard a thump coming from behind her, when the other woman most likely let her head fall onto the desk.
Draco hid his face in his hands and groaned, “They have regular date nights and she is telling us that they aren’t dating…”
“Friends can have dinners together!” Hermione exclaimed weakly, knowing that this argument wasn’t going to convince him.
“But friends don’t spend every damn second, when they can get away with it, flirting.” When Hermione opened her mouth to protest this accusation he added, “Don’t try to deny it. Me. Talia and poor Remus, spent hours upon hours seeing you two flirt and pin after another, because Black uses every possible excuse to visit you at work.”
“It’s not like that,” Hermione tried to protest once again, she barely wanted to acknowledge that aspect of her interactions with Sirius to herself. “Sirius isn’t…”
“Stop!” Draco interrupted, glaring at her. “Don’t you even dare to say that Sirius isn’t interested in you. He is. VERY!”
“I would even say that he is madly in love with you.”
“Exactly what Talia said.” Draco actually left his desk, and started pacing. “That man is mad about you.”
“It’s not that simple…” Hermione whispered, trying to understand why they didn’t get it. It wasn’t just the matter of the two of them wanting each other.
Draco leaned against his desk with his arms crossed against his chest. “So what’s the problem? You’re both very into each other, like veerryy ,” he dragged the last word obnoxiously. “And on top of that you’re clearly also great friends. What’s there more to want?”
“And you’re both single,” Talia added cheerfully.
“And you’re both single!” Draco repeated, pointing at Talia like a teacher happy that his student suggested a correct answer. “So I really don’t see where the problem lies… You literally have the most desired single wizard in the entire Britain smitten with you… and still nothing.”
Hermione shifted uncomfortably on her chair, avoiding looking at him.
“What’s it? Is it the fact that he is older than you?” Draco tried to guess and Hermione felt his searching gaze on herself. “How much older is he actually?”
“Exactly twenty years,” she replied, raising her eyes, glad that he didn’t point out the real reason.
“I’m guessing that it’s a lot by Muggle standards.” He looked towards Talia, who just like Hermione was Muggleborn, for confirmation.
“Yes, but also not unheard of,” she replied, moving her hand in so-so motion.
“Well, in our world it’s not all that much, we live way longer so twenty years isn’t considered particularly significant,” Draco explained with a thoughtful expression. “Sirius is a wizard in his prime… and will be for a long time still… if you’re worried about his potential performance… ” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, not leaving any doubts about what he meant by that.
Hermione groaned and let her head fall onto the desk to hide the blush that probably coloured her cheeks, she really didn’t need to think about Sirius performing while she was at work, it was enough that those images plagued her mind late at night when she laid alone in her bed.
“Remind me, why am I friends with you?” she asked, only partially joking, as she for the first time doubted her sanity the day she decided to accept Draco’s sincere apologies and start their relationship as coworkers from a blank page, which quickly turned into friendly teasing and bickering.
“Because I’m delightful to be around.” Draco grinned at her, before once again turning more serious. “I know that for Muggles, a man in his early forties is in the age of… what’s it called?” He glanced at Talia for help.
She seemed to think for a moment. “Middle age crisis?”
“Yes, this. But he is still a young wizard.”
“It’s not this,” Hermione revealed before she could catch herself. “I mean I would never consciously search for a partner so much older than me but…” This time she managed to bite her tongue before she confessed too much.
“You just accidentally fell in love with him, so you don’t care about such a fairly unimportant detail like his age.” Draco smiled knowingly, sparks of mischief dancing in his eyes. “So where’s the problem?”
“I hate you,” Hermione could only grumble halfheartedly. “It’s not so simple…”
“Oh,” Talia gasped, which made Hermione worry, as the other witch was unbelievably good at reading people despite denying ever using legilimency. “I think that I know what’s the problem. Hermione is worried how others would react to her relationship with Sirius. That they would judge her and be disappointed in her.”
She could only gape at her, not believing that the other witch could be truly so precise in her assessment without looking inside her head.
“Oh, you're silent, so Talia was right,” Draco smiled like he just won something. “I just don't understand… Who makes you so worried? I mean, I know you well enough to know that you're not one for caring for the opinion of the general public, not after the war. Which leaves who?”
“Please drop it,” Hermione pleaded quietly, but Draco continued like he hadn't heard her.
“Are you worried about Potter’s reaction?!” He raised his brows like he couldn't believe it. “That doesn't make sense, that guy is all about love.”
“It kind of does.” Talia hummed before elaborating on her trail of thoughts. “We're talking about his best friend with his uncle. Sirius is his uncle, right?”
“Yes, godfather to be exact,” Draco replied but he didn't seem to consider that argument as meaningful, because he waved his hand dismissively.
“Maybe he is worried what would happen if they broke up, it would put him in an awkward and difficult place,” Talia offered, both of them nearly ignoring Hermione.
“That guy is with his best friend's baby sister, having a problem with Hermione with Sirius would only make him a hypocrite. Not to mention that he didn't have a problem when Hermione was dating Weasley, you know his two best friends together, it was equally as bad if not worse.”
“You have a point.”
Hermione could only watch helplessly how the situation got out of control with her coworkers being like hounds that caught rabbit's fresh track and wouldn't give up until they sunk their teeth into the soft flesh.
“That leaves only Ron, but he seems too concentrated on his newest fling to notice anything or care. Not to mention that considering your ex's opinion about your potential relationship is just weird.” Draco furrowed his brows. “You’re truly so worried about them that you’re jeopardising your own happiness just to not upset them?”
“I’m not worried about them,” Hermione groaned in defeat and she didn’t lie… mostly. She didn’t expect a favourable reaction to the idea of her being with Sirius (she thought about this purely hypothetically of course), but she believed that her friends would get over their reluctance, others however… She anticipated hell, “but I don’t even want to think what Molly Weasley would do to us… to him,” she added the last part with true horror sipping into her voice.
“Who the hell is Molly Weasley?” Draco asked in an incredulous voice.
Hermione blinked at him confused, after years of being friends with Ron and knowing Weasleys, it seemed absolutely obvious to her who Molly was, but maybe it was just her. So she replied tentatively, “Ron’s mother.”
“I know, you didn’t understand my question.” Draco rolled his eyes at her. “Let me rephrase. Who the hell is she to you?”
“She is Ron’s mum,” she said once again, somehow even more lost, not knowing what Draco wanted to hear.
He sighed heavily, “So she is the mother of one of your friends and your ex, but this I would overlook, as your relationship with Ron didn’t even last a month before he decided that he didn’t want to tie himself to one witch when so many was throwing themselves at him since he became a war hero.”
His voice clearly betrayed what he thought about this decision, however Hermione herself was long past this.
“Draco. To the point,” Talia interrupted him.
“Yes, sorry. So she is your friend’s mother… Why the hell do you care what she thinks about your love life?!” He threw his hands up in unmistakable exasperation.
“She is basically family…” Hermione trailed off, suddenly realising that she never asked herself that question. She thought about how Molly’s reaction would be, but never why she even cared.
“I didn’t ask Theo’s mother for permission or even opinion when I decided to ask Sarah for a date. Never even for a second I wondered how she would react to the news. Nothing.”
“What does Theo's mother have to do with Molly?” Hermione squinted looking at him and trying to follow his trail of thoughts, which today turned out to be exceptionally challenging. Or maybe simply her subconscious didn’t want to follow considering the topic of this conversation and where it was going.
“Theo is my friend, so she is my friend’s mother, just like Molly is for you.” Draco sighed not hiding his exasperation. “Granger, get with the program, if you’ll be this slow there’s no way that I will explain it to you before the end of the work day and I’m not doing overtime to work on your love life or lack thereof. Back to Theo’s mother, she was also my mother's friend and is my godmother, and because my own mother is in Azkaban she also took to mother me, and I still didn’t take her opinion into consideration when deciding about my love life.”
“Draco, you didn’t even care what your mother thinks about you dating Sarah,” Talia added with a small chuckle.
“Exactly!!” Draco exclaimed, waving his hands excitedly. “Because it’s my life, not hers. Do I wish that she accepted my choice and welcomed Sarah with open arms? Sure. Do I make decisions based on her opinion? Do I jeopardise my happiness to fulfil her idea of me? No. Absolutely no. So now my question is, why do you… or even probably you both care more about that woman’s opinion than about the fact that you love each other. Who the hell she is, that she is so important? If she can't accept you the way you are, maybe she isn’t worthy of all that fuss.”
“And what can she even do? Yell some? You can just leave. Not invite you to a Sunday dinner? My and Lisa’s doors are always open,” Talia said, clearly meaning it.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried to hex him,” Hermione mumbled mostly to herself, thinking how much the Weasley’s matriarch seemed to still dislike Sirius' mere existence.
“It’s violence, it’s wrong, you contact Aurors for that, it’s their job,” Draco explained slowly, like she was his not-so-bright student.
“You know, Draco is right,” Talia added, nodding her head in agreement. “You know, it made me think about my own marriage with Lisa… If I had chosen my partner, thinking about not disappointing my parents, I would be married to a man and utterly miserable.”
“I… when you put it like that… it truly seems a little silly..”
And she wasn’t just saying that to get them out of her head, she genuinely couldn’t think of any good reason why she cared so much about Molly’s opinion. Yes, it was given that the older witch would be more than a little displeased with her dating Sirius (read: illogically furious), but why should Hermione care about it. Molly was not her mother and despite the fact that she sometimes tried to mother her as some strange extension of Harry - another orphan to care for - they weren’t truly close. Undoubtedly much closer than most people were with their friends' parents, but still not overly close. Definitely not close enough to justify hindering her own path to happiness. And damn if she didn’t think that her path led to Sirius and with him. She might have not wanted to admit it out loud even to herself, but deep in her heart, in the corner which she could normally overlook, she knew that she loved him, that he was more than just a friend to her. But now? She just couldn’t stop thinking about the possibility of being with Sirius, a possibility she was sure that didn’t exist at all only mere minutes before.
“Yes, you finally started to think,” Draco called triumphantly.
Hermione ignored his words, instead she looked between him and Talia, not knowing what next. “What am I going to do?” Her voice sounded small and tentative even to herself.
“What? You’re going home now to prepare for your date and then you go for that dinner and kiss him senseless and confess your feelings, of course” Draco replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Why should I leave now?”
“To prepare and make yourself irresistible, of course.”
“To be honest, she could just wear anything and Sirius would still find her irresistible.” Talia chuckled.
“He was pinning after her for months. Let’s throw the dog a bone.” Draco smirked, not leaving any doubts that the pun was fully intended. “So dress sexy, maybe some nice lacy underwear.”
“Draco! It will be only their first official date!” Talia clearly aimed to sound scandalised, but her laughter completely destroyed that effect.
“Come on. They have known each other for ages and with that amount of unresolved sexual tension I would be very surprised if she didn’t end up in his bed.. Or on the nearest flat surface.”
Hermione felt herself blushing, despite not being prone to blushing, she couldn’t even remember if it happened to her before, but well, it seemed that thinking about Sirius in that way was enough to heat up her cheeks.
“Oh don’t be a prude, Granger.” Draco rolled eyes, and she could only shift uncomfortably in her place. “Wait… you’re not embarrassed, you’re horny.” He laughed at her, shaking his head. “So go, get your man.”
Draco actually came to her desk and hauled her to her feet by hand, giving her only a little time to gather her things before he started to push her towards the door. However before she could actually leave, the door opened, revealing Remus, who was the head of their departament.
“Hermione, are you leaving already?” he asked, when his eyes landed on her.
“Yes, she needs to prepare for her date with Sirius,” Draco replied before she had a chance to open her mouth, probably not wanting to give her a chance to change her mind.
“So they finally get their shit together?” Hermione could swear that Remus’ eyes lit up at the news.
“Not exactly, Hermione did… kind off. We helped. But she is on her way to profess her undying love to Sirius.” Draco once again didn’t give her a chance to say anything and honestly she was too stunned to react so quickly.
“Good enough.” Remus nodded appreciatively.
“You too?” Hermione finally found her voice, just to groan in embarrassment and mortification at being so obvious, especially in the eyes of her former professor, even if he was also her friend.
“I spent too many hours listening to Sirius whining pathetically because he feels guilty about falling in love with you.” Remus shook his head, exasperation clear on his face. “So I will welcome the end of my suffering with relief. Actually, Draco, go with her and make sure that she doesn't change her mind and actually goes to Sirius.”
Hermione tried to protest, but she knew herself enough to be aware that as soon she would be left alone, she would panic and second guess herself, and she didn’t want that. Despite what it could seem she actually wanted to do that, to confess her feelings to him, at least she wanted to do that until her brain would flood her with all the reasons why she shouldn’t.
“And don’t worry if you’ll be late to work tomorrow,” Remus called behind her and Draco, making him laugh at her like a maniac, while she blushed like a beetroot.
***
Draco didn’t have an easy job to make sure that she would follow through with her plan. She panicked thrice and in the end he not only made sure that she made it to her dinner with Sirius, but he went with her (to Sirius enormous shock) and stood at the door until she confessed her feelings and kissed Sirius…
Alright she panicked…forgot what she was supposed to say and just started her confession by kissing Sirius. Thankfully, after initial shock he quickly got on with the program and she didn’t have time to worry anymore that, despite others’ assurance, he didn’t feel the same.
And well, they didn’t actually talk about their feelings until much later, when they were laying in Sirius bed, but Hermione couldn’t bring herself to care how backward they did it and even the prospect of being teased by her friends. She was just too damn happy to lay in Sirius arms to care about what others thought about it.
In the end…
Harry was both weirded out and happy for them at the same time.
Ron was weirded out too, but seemed to decide that it wasn’t his place to say anything because he just shrugged and congratulated them.
Molly… yes, she was furious, her anger concentrated mostly on Sirius - however surprisingly she didn’t try to hex him, limiting herself to yelling and throwing insults at him. But Draco was right, Hermione was too happy with Sirius to care about what Molly thought about it.