you won't regret me (like the tattoos on my skin)

The only time Sirius willingly stepped into a place filled with books was back during his time at Hogwarts when he’d go to the library to make out with a bloke or a bird. He never even really spent any time in his home’s library. His childhood and ancestral home had a very sought-after assortment of first editions and one of a kind — printed once only — books, but couldn’t be arsed to care. 

The bell above the bookshop door rang, announcing his entrance. The shop was empty, still too early in the day for patrons. 

“Welcome to Tomes and Tales! I’ll be with you in a moment!” He heard a voice coming from a room behind the till counter. 

Sirius nodded his head, as if they’d be able to see him, and slid his hands into the pockets of his jacket. He walked around the shop, taking note that the store was much bigger than it seemed on the outside. It looked to only be a one story building, but inside it had about five floors filled with books. Some of which were floating around midair, to and fro, to whatever direction they were enchanted to go. 

“Sorry to have kept you waiting! How may I help you?” He heard the voice once again. 

He turned on the spot, making eye contact with a rather young witch. Her hair was wild, but tame. A cascade of long brown waves, to about her waist, flowed down over her shoulders. The sunlight coming in through the shop windows made her freckles stand out like stars in the dark of night and her seemingly warm eyes glowed a gentle honey brown. 

Sirius had seen and met his fair share of witches but none came close to being as beautiful and ethereal as the one that stood before him. 

He hadn’t realised he had not said a word or moved until she spoke again. “Sir? Are you okay?” 

He gently shook his head in an effort to unclog the gears in his brain for words or movement. “Uh, right,” Sirius could honestly say he’d never had an issue talking to anyone he was attracted to but, then again, he was sure he’d never been this instantly attracted to anyone before. “Right. I’m here to pick up a book order.”

“Perfect!” She smiled at him. Fuck, he thought. Whoever she was, even though he’d just met her, he was sure he’d instantly fallen in love with her.

“May I have a name?” She called for his attention again, now behind the counter. 

“Sirius.”  He stepped closer, the tips of his shoes touching the counter. Regaining any semblance of confidence, he asked “And yours?”

She giggled at him. “Is that the name your order is under?”

Get a fucking grip, for Merlin’s sake, he reprimanded himself. “Actually, it’s under Remus. Remus Lupin.”

“Remus?!” She practically squealed and Sirius was forced to bite into his cheek to avoid rolling his eyes at her joyful tone at the mention of his best mate. 

“That’s right,” he nodded once. “Do you know him?”. 

“Of course!” A grin stretched over her lips. “He was my professor at Hogwarts a few years back. It would’ve been nice to have seen him.”

Remus had been too worn out from his monthly transformations which was why Sirius was there. Of course, he couldn’t tell her that. “He’s feeling a little under the weather. You’ll have to put up with me instead.” He smirked at her. 

The young witch smiled at him, a blush slowly creeping up her neck to her cheeks before she turned away to grab Remus’ book. Sirius tried his best to not watch her walk away but the sway of her hips was mesmerising. 

She returned a few minutes later with a book wrapped in brown parchment. “Here you are!” The witch extended her arm to hand him the book. 

Sirius reached over to take it from her. As he went to grab it, he accidentally grazed her fingers with his. The feeling was almost too overwhelming and he flexed his hand before clenching it into a fist. “Do I owe you anything?” he finally asked after taking a moment to compose himself.

“No, no. This one’s on me. Please do tell Profe– I mean, Remus, that I hope he feels better soon.” Her voice was laced with concern. 

He tucked the book under his arm and smiled at her as he began walking away and towards the exit. “I most certainly will.” 

Before Sirius went to open the door, she spoke up again. “Hermione!” When she noticed she yelled across the room, she covered her mouth with her hands. She was fucking adorable. 

“What was that, sweetheart?” 

She brought her hands down and huffed out a sigh. “My name. That’s my name. Hermione.”

Sirius smiled at her. “It was very lovely to meet you, Hermione.” 

◇─◇──◇─────◇──◇─◇

“Will you fucking leave me alone?” Remus growled.

“Not until you tell me more about her.”

“All I’m going to tell you is that she graduated three years ago, she was a Gryffindor, top of her class, and she’s too good, clever and smart for a mutt like you.”

Fucking mongrel. Remus refused to tell him more about Hermione, which was fine with him. He’d just have to charm her enough to go out on a date with him, then fall in love with him, and marry him. Which was why he found himself outside the bookshop again after owling in another book order in Remus’ name. Whether the werewolf liked it or not, he was going to help him with Hermione. 

When he entered the shop, his excitement deflated like a balloon when he saw that she wasn’t at the counter. Maybe she had the day off? he thought to himself. 

Instead of walking back out right away, he decided to take a look around the shop. He climbed a flight of stairs that led him to a little reading nook above the main floor. Pretending as if he were interested in the books themselves, he counted the acceptable amount of minutes before it seemed reasonable for him to leave the shop. He was never one to be embarrassed but given that he was there because he had a crush on a woman twenty years younger than him, he felt he should have some sort of shame. 

Just as he was getting ready to walk back down and exit the store, he heard the door open with a woman rushing in. “Oh, I’m so sorry I’m late! Crookshanks dropped my alarm clock in his water bowl!” 

Sirius couldn’t help but quietly laugh at Hermione’s frantic excuse. He leaned over to look down, doing his best to make himself unseen.

“I keep telling you to use your wand as an alarm clock rather than some muggle contraption that, as it appears, is easily destroyed. Smart cat, that Crooks.” The voice of a man replied. 

“Bugger off, Theo.” Hermione replied, rolling her eyes. 

Theo? I wonder if that’s Ha—

“Harry tried to get us to use one of those for a while after he moved into my flat. The coffee maker I’ll take, but that loud contraption? I ended up throwing it out the window,” said the man, confirming that it was, in fact, his godson’s boyfriend, Theodore Nott.

“You’re incorrigible, Theo.” Hermione grumbled setting down her purse and bookbag behind the counter.

“What I am,” he sang, “is a good friend. I figured you might not have had enough time for coffee so I got you one. Iced latte with an extra espresso shot.” Theo handed Hermione a clear to-go cup filled with coffee and ice.

Even though he knew Theo was in a relationship with his godson, the smile that he caused to appear on Hermione’s face made him jealous. “Theo. Theo, my love. Have I ever told you you’re my favourite?” She praised him with her hand on her chest, showing her appreciation.

“Be sure to say that in front of Harry next time.” Theo murmured as he walked away and disappeared from sight.

Feeling like it was as good a time as any to walk down, Sirius placed his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket and made his way towards the till.

She was kneeling down on the other side of the counter when he hit the bell. Instantly, she popped up — with a mixture of confusion, surprise, and what he thought was excitement, upon her face. 

“Sirius! Hello!” She looked around as if looking for an answer to an unasked question. “Have you been here long?”

“Not really, no. I came to pick up another book for Remus. I didn’t see anyone at the counter so I decided to take a look around.” Besides the lie that he was there again on Remus’ behalf, the other part was… half true.

“Oh, I’m sorry we kept you waiting, again.” She emphasised the last word loudly for Theo to hear.

“I was busy!” Theo yelled back.

“Remus still isn’t feeling well?” The witch inquired.

“Are you already tired of seeing my face, little witch?” Sirius teased, his question causing her to furiously blush. That was going to become his favourite hobby. “He is. He’s feeling loads better. He’s just busy with lesson plans for his classes.”

“I see,” she hummed. “What are you up to today, old man?”

“Old man?” Sirius roared with laughter, clinging on to his sides to contain himself. 

“I thought we were calling them as we see them. You called me little witch. Which would make you an old man.”

“Struck a nerve with you, did I?” He smirked.

Hermione simply looked at him and sniffed once, ever so nonchalantly. “You wish, old man.”

“Oh, Merlin,” he laughed again. “You’re going to get me into trouble, aren’t you?”

“Somehow I suspect trouble isn’t something new for you and that maybe, you might even find it quite thrilling…”

“That I do, Hermione. That I do.”

◇─◇──◇─────◇──◇─◇

This time, Sirius was met with Hermione behind the counter as soon as he entered the shop. She was leaning on top of the flat surface, elbows on the counter with her head resting on her hands, smirking at him.

“Good morning, sweetheart. I come bearing gifts.” Sirius grinned at her, lifting both of his hands to show her a cup holder with two to-go cups and a white paper bag holding pastries. 

Hermione merely shook her head, smiling. “Did you now?” 

“From what I’ve gathered, you tend to skip breakfast. So, I brought you a latte and a custard éclair.” 

Sirius knew he’d taken a bit of a risk in bringing her breakfast. After all, much of their interactions — if not all of their interactions — had only taken place within the four walls of the bookshop. He didn’t know much about her at all. Just her name, her Hogwarts house, and how she preferred to consume her caffeine. 

She looked at him gobsmacked. “How did you–”

“I noticed you were drinking an iced latte a couple weeks back,” he cut her off, eager to explain himself. “I, well, I overheard someone bring you one. As for the éclair, they’re my favourite and I just figured…” he lifted his shoulders as an explanation. 

“They’re my favourite, too,” she murmured. 

It’d been years since Sirius was a lovestruck teenage boy, yet, at this moment, he felt just like one. He set the cup carrier on the counter, along with the pastry bag, for her to take her items. She enthusiastically took a bite of her éclair followed by a sip of her latte, causing her to make the most angelic sound he’d ever heard in his life. 

He took a deep breath, fighting off any lascivious thoughts his brain conjured up at the sound. 

“You’re right.” She spoke with her mouth full, immediately bringing her hand up to her mouth to cover it from her bad manners. “I was starving. Thank you for this, Sirius.”

“Anytime, sweetheart.” Sirius nodded his head once. Before he could say anything else, he was interrupted by the sound of the front door’s bell, letting them both know a customer had just arrived. 

“Right. I’ll leave you to it. I’ll grab Remus’ order and then get out of your way.” He winked at her.

“Do you really expect me to believe that any of the recent orders you’ve picked up have been on Remus’ account?” She asked him. Her brow raised, expecting an answer from him.

This time it was Sirius’ turn to be gobsmacked. 

Hermione giggled at the look on his face. “I had lunch with Remus a few days ago.”

“Did he snitch on me?!” Sirius exclaimed with a smile on his face, his eyes following Hermione’s movements as she folded over in laughter. 

“He didn’t have to!” She finally managed to say after getting a hold of herself. 

For a moment, they stared at each other. Not one of them speaking. Sirius never really gave much thought to his approach. While he did want to date her and get to know her, he was slowly becoming content with just being around her. 

Hermione let out a soft sigh. “At first, I understood you coming here on Remus’ behalf. What with his condition and all. But then you kept coming back, and I didn’t say anything because well…I like seeing you and I didn’t want you to stop coming in.”

All he could do was blink at her because she’d just confessed to knowing about Remus being a werewolf and to liking Sirius’ presence. 

“Why didn’t you just ask me out? You didn’t have to do all that,” She murmured. 

“I…” he sighed. “I haven’t been with anyone for a very long time and I’m much older than you. Yet, despite our significant age difference, I’ve found myself quite entranced by you. I suppose I just wasn’t sure how you’d react to me asking you out.” 

Hermione reached over and rested her hand over Sirius’ on the counter. “Honestly? I sort of hoped you'd’ve asked me out the first time you came in.” 

“You are quite unlike any witch I’ve ever met, you know that?” 

She merely smiled and hummed at him in response. “Out of curiosity, you don’t actually give these books to Remus, do you?”

He slowly shook his head in response. “Only the first one.” 

Hermione sighed in relief. “Good. I was afraid you’d never ask me out, so I left a note in there with my number.”

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. He’d feel foolish about not asking her out in the first place but he quite enjoyed her boldness. “You and I are going to have a lot of fun, little witch.”

“Is that a promise?” She lifted a single brow. The smile on her face made her seem a lot more innocent than he knew she was. 

“You’ll find that I never break a promise, little witch.” Sirius gave her a mischievous smile in return.

Without saying a word, Hermione placed her drink back into the drink carrier and her already-bitten-into èclair in the pastry bag. She locked her eyes with his. “Theo! I’ll be back…soon!”

“Where are you going!?” He yelled back. 

Her eyes still on Sirius, she gave him a smile. “On a date!”

“A date?! Now?! We’re working!” 

“Fine! I’m taking the day off!” She replied simply, grabbing her purse and walking over to the door. She turned to look back at Sirius, extending her hand out for him to grab. “You coming? I can’t have this date without you, you know?” 

All Sirius could do was stare at her in awe as he took her hand and followed her.