Guess We're Stuck With Each Other - Sirius x Hermione

Chapter 16 - Lunch

"Sit over here, Granger." She was ushered towards the Slytherin table, passed a horrified Ginny. "I don't think sitting with them would be very wise." His arm was firmly around her shoulder, leading her to a seat next to him.

"Nor is sitting at this table surrounded by a load of blood supremacists." She spoke at a whisper, so they didn't hear.

"Common ground, Granger. You may not have the most appropriate heritage, but you hate Weasley enough to fit in around here." He raised his voice for everyone to hear the last part of that sentence.

"You hate Weasley? So you ain't marrying him?" one of Malfoy's followers piped up.

This is my chance. Common ground, here we go...

"That grimy ginger? Are you crazy? Why would I want to marry someone like him? He's the most irresponsible bastard I know." Well that was the most unnatural thing to come out of your mouth.

"Yeah, but you're a mudblood, what ya doing at our table?" another asked, only to be interrupted by their leader.

"She's with us now, so watch your language."

"With us? You mean with you?"

"No, if she's with me, she's with all of us. We look after her, stand up for her." Hermione blushed at how much Draco cared, though she was unsure if he was actually doing it out of genuine fondness for her. It seemed to most that he was just doing it to spite the Gryffindor table.

"But why?" the same follower butted in, only to be further interrupted, by Hermione this time.

"You're in my Ancient Runes class, I can help you with your translations. I always see Professor Babbling picking on you, and I have an, um, interesting idea." A slow but twisted smile grew across his face.

"She can stay," he proclaimed to the rest of the group.

Draco hadn't taken his arm off her shoulder since they left Transfigurations, so Hermione was very close – probably too close for comfort. It was getting too much for her. Overwhelmed by the group of boys surrounding her, who were cackling as an unfortunate 2nd year dropped his books, she spun free from Draco's grip and headed for the door.

All eyes were on her. Slytherins were already watching her every move at their table. Gryffindors were whispering between each other, subtly pointing at Harry and Ron. Three pairs of eyes at the teachers' table shot in her direction. Snape looked angry, McGonagall seemed disappointed, and Lupin was concerned.

"Granger!" The measly boy called, chasing after her.

+++++++++

The library was calm, quiet, peaceful.

Breathe

Breathe, woman, breathe!

Hyperventilating won't solve any problems

"I'm... sorry." A soft voice came through a bookshelf. She could only see his deep blue eyes. "I didn't mean to make you..." he peeked around the corner of the shelf "...feel like you had to run away...I just...I was just trying to get them to like you." He was now standing a few metres away, with big, lost puppy eyes. "I understand now that you don't want that. I'll leave you alone from now on. Besides, Weasley was only looking at you every few seconds. But I'm sure you can find other ways to spite him."

"You're going to be late for your lesson."

"I've got a free afternoon. Just like you."

"Then you should know this. It wasn't that I was trying to spite Weasley, well, it was to begin with, but that changed. I actually wanted to be your friend. You just had your arm... it was just all too much. I do want them to like me, but not at the expense of losing who I am. I just-"

"You're rambling."

"What?"

"You're rambling. I get it. I'm irresistible," he joked. "Now you wanna go to my common room and study with me or what?"

"Can we drop by at Lupin's office first? I need to pick some stuff up first."

"Sure."