Hello & Merry Christmas!

Welcome to the newly edited version of "Seasons", as of December 2017.

It has been exactly a year to date when it was first published, and what better time to update it to be read better and more fluently? There are no real changes, only more articulate sentences and hopefully fewer errors.

Warnings: Coarse Language; Age Difference (although they meet when they are both in perfectly legal ages).

WINTER

"Crookshanks!"

Sirius heard a woman call outside. It sounded worried, panicked even. He went to look out the window. Sure enough, a young woman with hair that was cascading out the wool beanie in crazy curls and her mouth sticking out of a huge red scarf was out there. Her shoulders and top of her hair were covered in snow.

"Crooksie!"

She sounded desperate.

Sirius let the curtains close in, grabbed his coat, put his feet into his black boots and opened the door.

"Hey! What are you doing? It's freezing out there!" he shouted to get her attention.

His cat meowed just then and the woman looked at him.

"Crookshanks?" she shouted again before her deep brown eyes met Sirius. "My cat. He is missing... again. Did you see him? He is big, fluffy, orange and-"

Sirius' eyebrows rose.

"Well, the only cat I know that sounds like what you describe is my Reggie," he said. He still wanted to reassure the poor thing, though. "I'm sure he found somewhere warm, your cat. They are smart creatures."

She looked near tears. "It's cold and it's snowing, and..." She sniffed, her nose that turned red because of the cold wrinkled and her eyebrows were furrowed with worry. Sirius felt his heart tug. Just as he was about to offer her his help to look for the cat he heard Reggie's loud call again and his cat bumped his head to Sirius' boots.

That was when the woman shouted. "Crookshanks!"

She darted towards Sirius picking his cat up.

"Uh, lady, that's not your cat!"

She looked at him, her hands full of orange fluff, her eyes no longer worried but instead angry. She looked glorious.

"I believe I would know my own cat, sir!" She said, raising her nose and squaring her shoulders in defiance. She turned towards his Regulus. "It's going to be alright Crooksie, I got you now..." she mumbled in a soothing voice. Sirius felt a little annoyed, what was wrong with this woman?

"Uh- no," Sirius said. "That's my cat. And his name is Regulus. Definitely not Crookshanks. What kind of a name is Crookshanks anyway?"

The woman looked at him like she was getting ready to spit fire.

"What kind of a person kidnaps other people's pets?" she accused him in an angry voice.

"Kidnap? How can I kidnap my own cat?" Sirius took a step towards the woman. "Give him back to me. I understand you are scared but look at him. He is obviously not your cat, he can't be can he? He is mine!"

He was getting a little worried. What if this woman took Regulus? He couldn't actually attack a woman, could he? And the bloody cat looked like he was happy where he was, purring like there was no argument or a snowstorm around him.

The curly haired harpy took a step back.

"Stay away!" she said. "I warn you, I know self-defence!"

"Good for you! Give my cat back you crazy bint!"

"How dare you!"

Regulus jumped just as Sirius attempted to take him from the woman's hands and swiftly ran inside.

"See," Sirius said triumphantly. "He knows where he lives!"

"But, but he is... He is my Crookshanks. I swear he is!" she said, sounding sad for a second before the indignant stance was back. "He just ran inside because it's cold!"

Sirius sighed, he felt bad for the woman, he really did. But he loved Regulus and he had an inkling that this woman was a little on the crazy side.

"Look, it's freezing. And the cat stays. But if you want to get warm, you can come inside," he said turning towards his home. "I'm not standing out in the cold one more minute to discuss this ridiculousness."

The girl bit her lip, clearly considering what should she do. Sirius waited for few seconds and raised his left eyebrow, making it clear that he wanted her to decide quickly.

"Alright. I'll come, but just for Crooksie."

"For God's Sake woman, his name is Regulus."

"It's not," the crazy woman said, her lips a thin line.

Sirius sighed and quickly got inside the warmth of his house. He watched with the corner of his eye as the woman unwrapped her scarf (how big was that scarf?), and took her beanie off. The static of the wool obviously was no friend of hers, making her curls jump as soon as they were free from their confines, creating a halo around her head. Sirius couldn't help the laughter that came from his chest. With her crazy hair, red cheeks, even redder nose and squared shoulders she looked adorable.

Wait, adorable?

She looked at him, with narrowed eyes.

"What is so funny, may I ask?" she asked. She looked like a bird trying to assert its dominance.

"Just-" Sirius began but stopped himself. He couldn't tell her she looked funny. Women didn't like that, this one already had a disliking of him. "The situation. You know, you think my cat is yours-"

"That's because he is!" she said and stomped her foot.

She stomped her foot.

Sirius couldn't answer her after that. He was laughing, holding his belly and he just couldn't stop. She was a vision.

"Stop laughing you insufferable man!"

He took few calming breaths and looked at her.

"Is insulting your host a new tradition?" he asked without any malice in his voice. He knew he was smiling at her. He couldn't help it. He liked her, for some unfathomable reason.

"Is laughing at your guest?" she asked putting her fists on her hips. Sirius eyed her stance head to toe and grinned.

"Maybe we can start our new traditions then, hm?" he asked with a wink. "Look, get inside the living room, yeah? There is a fireplace there. Reggie is probably already lying in front of it."

"His name is Crookshanks," she said as she walked towards the living room.

"And your name?" Sirius said following her.

She stopped and looked sheepish for a second. "Ah, right. I'm Hermione."

"What a mouthful," he said.

"Well, what's your name then?"

"Sirius," he said giving her a toothy smile. Not many people caught on his name. Serious?, they usually asked, excuse me; I'm not sure I got it.

"Like the star?" she asked though, surprising him.

"Yes," he said, unable to hide that he was impressed.

"Interesting. So you named your cat after a star as well?"

Sirius shrugged. "Well, I'm a man of tradition."

Hermione didn't say anything to that because right then Regulus took her attention and she sat the nearest chair.

"Crookshanks, come here sweetie,"

Sirius chuckled inwardly. Regulus never came when called.

"He is not gonn-" he stopped because as he started to talk, his cat, the traitor got up and jumped on to her lap. He cleared his throat not knowing what to say next. He wanted to avoid the conflict if he insisted that the cat whose name was going to change to Judas was not hers, so he did the safest thing he thought of.

"Do you want to drink something?" he showed the bottle of whiskey on his coffee table that stood next to his nearly empty glass. She looked at the bottle doubtfully, probably weighing how stupid would it be to drink whiskey in an unfamiliar place with a stranger. He quickly amended when he saw her expression. "I got tea. Or coffee..."

She smiled at him then, halting Sirius. Her eyes crinkled at the corners, it was such a contrast to her angry disposition it naturally unarmed him.

"I would like some coffee if that's not much trouble for you," she said. Sirius was sure he would do anything she asked at that moment, so he nodded.

"Not trouble at all, I'll be right back."

He quickly went to the kitchen. His heart beating too fast, and his throat had dried. Get it together, Black, he mentally reprimanded himself. You are not a young man anymore. You are an adult and she is just... She is too young for you anyway.

That she was. He was sure she couldn't be much older than his godson, which meant she was in her early twenties. Which meant she could be his daughter. No. Not his daughter. But she could be Remus' daughter, for fuck's sake.

He put some coffee to the machine and started it.

He was going to make her some coffee, allow her to get warm, convince her to leave his cat where he belonged and when the weather was better she was going to leave. They'd probably see each other in the market or walking around, and they'd nod each other hello and go to their own way. That was it. She was not going to stay, he was not going to flirt with her, and he was most definitely not going to shag her. Ever.

"Nope," he mumbled.

"Excuse me?"

He jumped hearing her voice right behind him.

"Bloody hell, woman!" he said, embarrassed. She giggled at him.

"Sorry, I thought you'd hear me coming," she said, and she was still smiling, damn it. "I thought I'd offer help."

He shrugged and took two mugs from where he left them to dry.

"No need, it'll be ready in a bit."

She nodded and walked towards the fridge, eyeing a photograph of Crookshanks that he put up there with a magnet.

"I don't understand," she said. "This is Crookshanks."

Sirius sighed.

"Look, I have that cat for a year now, and..."

"A year?" she turned to him. "I've moved here a year ago. How did you adopt him?"

Sirius' brows furrowed.

"Ah, well... It was winter and he was out there without a collar..."

"He always takes it off!" she exclaimed. Sirius looked at her for a second before continuing.

"And then I took him in. He seemed to like it with me, so... Well..." He shrugged.

"So, you didn't think to look if he had an owner or not?" she asked.

"Well, I didn't," Sirius said honestly. "I figured if he was out in the cold in dead of the winter his owner wouldn't care much."

And that did it. Her soft face immediately disappeared and the goddess of fire and anger had returned. Does her hair look even wilder now?

"I looked for him for days!" she half-shouted. "I was sick with worry. I cried my eyes out, and just because you didn't think I cared!"

"Wait a minute! How is it my fault that you allowed your cat to run away?"

"He likes to go out!"

"Well, I know that!" Sirius returned angrily then looked at her surprised. "Wait, are you telling me, you and I... We both had the same cat, for a year, and we didn't know the little bugger was living a double life?"

That stopped her from shouting at him, because he could see she was getting ready for that, her feet were in the same line with her shoulders, her fists had returned to her hips and her eyes were narrowed. It looked utterly ridiculous when her anger reeled back in and disappeared with a shocked expression that took its place.

"I, I..." she huffed a breath and started to laugh. It was a light sound that filled his kitchen and completely suppressed the sound of the coffee machine. Sirius joined her in silent laughs himself, as he was too afraid that his loud laughter would smother the sound of hers.

"That little shit." Sirius grinned. "No wonder he is so fat."

"Don't call my cat fat!" she said without real malice in her voice.

"He is my cat too, and I call him whatever I want."

"Well he was my cat for seven years, I think I get to decide that!" she said snottily.

"Oh yeah, some owner you are, the cat runs away to be with me," Sirius said grinning. "Not that I blame him. I am clearly the more likeable one between us."

"Oh, that's right, I'm sure every cat would prefer you over any other," she said crossing her arms.

"Well, I don't know," Sirius grinned. "Want to find out, kitten?"

He immediately cursed inwardly after saying that. No flirting, remember?

But what could he do when she responded with a blush like that? How can he not flirt with her while she avoided his eye, cleared her throat and reminded him that the coffee was ready? He certainly liked this little thing, and he definitely wanted to find out what would she be like in bed. He was almost sure that she would be fun when she is angry -if he pushed the right buttons.

No.

No thinking of buttons and pushing them and...

No.

Instead, they found their way back to the living room and sat on two different chairs, a safe distance apart from each other. He chuckled when Hermione reprimanded their cat (theirs?) in a bossy tone, telling him how wrong he acted and that he should be ashamed of himself. It was one of the cutest scenes Sirius ever saw.

They talked about Regulus for a while, apparently, he always liked his freedom so Hermione was used to him disappearing, only worrying if he didn't show up for few days. After that, the conversation took off and Sirius, naturally, forgot about their age difference.

Sure, she was young, although not in an 'I'm at the beginning of my life and don't know what to do with myself yet,' way. Her youth was in the way she smiled and moved. She asked him questions after questions without a second thought about if it would be offending or not. She apologised when she felt like she crossed a boundary but Sirius could see it in her eye the apology was just a thing she had learned to say and she didn't really mean it, not enough to excuse him from answering, at least.

Sirius didn't mind it, for soon after they finished drinking their coffees, she agreed to join him for the bottle of whiskey he planned on enjoying tonight.

Her face turned red as she drank, and even though she held her composure, she began to talk way more than she had in the beginning.

She was very opinionated, and Sirius realised he enjoyed listening to her rants or excited proclamations. Soon they both were tipsy enough to let go of their inhibitions and were sitting side by side, Regulus long forgotten as he snored happily front of the fire.

"Tell me something, kitten," Sirius asked her and she softly laughed at his way of addressing her, putting a grin on Sirius' face. "How much control do you have right now over your actions?"

Hermione smiled beautifully at that.

"Enough to consent if you wanted to kiss me," she said primly, and Sirius held his breath. "But enough to know if we did anything further than that I would convince myself that was a bad idea the next day. Not because I don't want to, but I would think you don't really like me and that I only slept with you because I'm drunk, so I-"

Sirius leaned and kissed her to stop her ramblings.

No.

Sirius leaned and kissed her because he wanted to for hours and she looked so kissable as she rambled her thoughts away. He covered her lips with his and opened her mouth to him pulling her half onto his lap. She sighed and put her arms around him and gave his tongue admission so he could taste her properly.

Soon enough, she straddled him and pushed her core downwards in circular movements right on his hardness, making him breathe into her mouth. He had to stop. She had said only kissing, and only kissing was what they would do. He allowed her to move on his lap for a while then held her hips firmly.

"Watch out, kitten," he said and bit her neck playfully. "Kissing only. Rules are rules."

She groaned. "Rules are very important," she said in a breathy way then kissed him once more. She was demanding as she explored his mouth. She was no longer moving over him with her dangerous hips, but she was firmly pressing against him still. Sirius broke his mouth from hers and kissed her cheek with a helpless groan, and trailed with his lips over her neck and behind her ear.

"God, woman, stop," he whispered. "You are killing me."

That made her laugh and look at him.

"Sorry, but it's mutual you know," she grinned, and it was a wicked grin. Not innocent like her smile, but instead blood boiling. "I think you are the most beautiful man I've seen, and I really, really want to get to know you." She slid from his lap, standing before him. Sirius held her hips to stop her from going further away. He wanted her to sit back on his lap. "So I will give you my phone number, then leave. And if you want to date me, not just shag me, mind you, you will call me tomorrow and ask me for a date. If you just want a shag though, I expect you to rather go to a pub."

Sirius' started to grin as she started to talk but that soon turned into a genuine smile.

"Deal."

I hope you'll like this little feel-good holiday spirit!

Crookshanks is Regulus! Who'd have guessed?

Please leave reviews; they are the best gifts!

Synoir