Disclaimer: I by no means own any of the Harry Potter characters. The plot would be mine, but that's about it, oh and a few random characters here and there.
A/N: I'm not really sure who the most prominent characters are going to be yet, so bear with me. Right now I'm just writing as the mood strikes. I'll try to update soon for any that actually read this!
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Harry lay stretched out on his bed staring at the bright ceiling. He was twenty years old now, living in London by himself, and working for the Ministry of Magic. Harry had finished at Hogwarts a little over three years ago and had gone directly to work for the ministry the summer after graduation. He had gone into training to become an Auror, and not to anyone's surprise, he had risen to the occasion and surpassed all expectations of him. After leaving Hogwarts he and Ron had found a small flat in London that was in their price range and moved in right away. Harry still had plenty of money at Gringott's that his parents had left him, but he wanted to support himself on what he earned. After living together for two and half years, both he and Ron were able to find their own apartments. It was about time, because Harry could barely stomach Ron and Hermione. They had been dating since sixth year, and were still all lovey dovey. It was absolutely repulsive how mushy the two of them could be. Even with all of this, he and Ron were still the best of friends.
Ron also worked at the Ministry for the Department of Magical Games and Sports. During Ron's last years at Hogwarts, he had become quite good at Quidditch, but not good enough to go professional. Working for the Ministry was something he enjoyed immensely. He had finally made a name for himself, instead of being known as Fred and George's little brother, or Harry's sidekick. He was the youngest head of a Ministry department in over a hundred years. This was something that instantly brought a smile to his face. Fred and George had become an over night successes with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. They were able to expand, and now had stores in every wizarding community in the world, and were on their way to taking over Zonko's. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were happy for the twins, but not overly impressed that they were making a living of off jokes. All in all they were most proud of Ron for achieving such high honors in the Ministry.
Ron and Harry had a weekly get together every Tuesday night to have a boy's night out and catch up on the week's happenings. They normally would apparate The Dragon's Tail, a new wizarding pub that had opened up on Diagon Alley about six months ago. They really did have the best butterbeer and the best crowd. They knew that they would see Fred and George there as well, and occasionally they would run into Neville, Seamus, and Dean. Once in a blue moon, Sirius would be there, but they knew that the only reason he came to this type of pub was to see Harry and Ron. If they were lucky Draco wouldn't be there.
On the few occasions that they had seen Draco at the pub, he had been utterly snockered. Draco had done very poorly on his N.E.W.T.S. and was not able to find employment after leaving Hogwarts. His father had disowned him and made sure that he was not able to find a job anywhere. Draco had resorted to sleeping in the alley behind the pub, and occasionally would get odd jobs here and there doing unthinkable things. Things got so bad for him, that he eventually went to Fred and George, and begged on hands and knees for them to help him. He had apologized profusely for all the horrible things he had said and done to their family, and even went so far as to tell them that their family had more class then the Malfoy family ever had. They had reluctantly agreed to let him work as a delivery person.
This Tuesday was no exception for Harry and Ron, at 8:30 that night they met outside the Dragon's Tail, shook hands and proceeded to go inside. As they opened the door, they were surprised to see such a large crowd gathered inside. And this was not the usual type of crowd. This was a very rowdy bunch and looking around, Harry noticed what all the commotion was about. Standing on the small stage at the other end of the bar, stood the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Looking over at Ron, he knew that he was thinking the same thing, what with his jaw resting on his chest. Not only was she beautiful, but she also had the most enchanting voice. Harry had never heard anything so beautiful and captivating in his life. Her eyes were the palest shade of blue, and flitted from face to face through the crowd. Each man in the pub was staring in awe at her beauty, feeling that her song was meant only for him. Harry wondered if she was part Veela because of the lack of control the audience seemed to have, but decided against it as he pulled his eyes away from her and scanned the room for a table.
"So", Ron said, "What's been going on this week with you?" Ron looked at Harry quizzically wondering if he would have any interesting stories this week. Normally Harry ran into all kind of trouble dealing with the Dark wizards. He had come home one week with a black eye, a broken wrist, and singed hair. Luckily, Ginny was trained very well in healing charms, and was able to fix him right up. She had gotten a lot of practice with the three youngest of the Weasley boys.
"Well, not a whole lot happened this week actually. Really all I did was some follow up paperwork on last weeks incidents," Harry muttered. Harry didn't really like talking about work. It was such a large part of his life and seemed to overtake all other aspects, that he relished any time that he didn't have to think or talk or defend himself against the Dark Arts. He had hoped that after almost three years that Ron had gotten his fill of stories. But I guess fighting dangerous witches and wizards was more interesting then charming a Quidditch pitch.
"We've been on the trail of some new Death Eaters. These kids are just barely out of Hogwarts, but have done their best to prove to Voldemort that they will be loyal followers", he said with a sigh. "You'd think that by now they would realize that Voldemort doesn't stand a chance at coming back into power. It's been too long, and too many people are ready to fight again. We get owls every day from people letting us know that they want to be contacted if another war starts."
He knew that there was a possibility of another war, but it was slim. The dark wizards were becoming very sparse. Most of Voldemort's followers had been killed during the last war during Harry's seventh year at Hogwarts. Even though he was still in school, he had been called to participate in the war. Not only had Voldemort sought him out, but Dumbledore had also recommended Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville to the Ministry as the most exceptional students at Hogwarts. It was just like old times during the war, except that Luna was not there with them. The six of them had fought together against Voldemort during Harry's fifth year, but during his sixth year, she had been killed in an unfortunate flying accident. She had decided to ride one of the thestrals to visit Viktor Krum at Durmstrang, knowing that thestrals were known for their extrodinary ability to find where you were going, even if you didn't know where it was. The thestral that she had taken was quite old, and had lost its way. She ended up freezing to death while flying through the Swiss Alps.
"Anything new in the great world of Quidditch?" Harry asked reluctantly. He knew asking Ron a question about Quidditch was only opening up an hour long rant about the Quidditch World Cup, and how much work he was having to do, and what a pain it was having to deal with the players, and so on and so on. Harry was extremely happy for Ron that he was doing so well in his position at the Ministry, but the last thing he wanted to hear was a bitch session about the pansies that Ron had to deal with. Most of the players were high-strung boys that did nothing but work out and play Quidditch. Some of them were rather talented, such as Oliver Wood, the captain of the Griffyndor Quidditch team when Harry hard started his first year. Cho Chang had also been drafted for the Chudley Cannons, Ron's favorite team since he was a kid. She was doing quite well, and actually was dating the Seeker from her rival team. Angelina had played for a year after leaving Hogwarts, but had decided that playing Quidditch was not what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. Harry went to a couple of matches a month with Ron, but most of the time was working and able to give plausible excuses not to attend.
Finally the woman singing took a break. Fred and George made their way over to Harry and Ron's table and had just sat down when the woman walked up to their table. They both reverted to teenagers, and stammered as she spoke.
"My name is Rumella Coringa," she said in a sultry voice. Her blonde hair was swept back in some kind of knot, and her blue eyes twinkled. Harry stood up, and pulled out a chair at the table for her. She sat down, looking around the table at the three red headed men staring at her with open mouths and lolling tongues.
"Excuse my friends, as you can tell, they've never been in the presence of a beautiful woman before", he said nonchalantly. At this, all three of the Weasleys began to blush.
"My name is Harry, and this is Ron, and Fred and George are the twins," he said as he pointed to each of them. With the introductions out of the way, and the lolling tongues being rolled back into their mouths, conversation began to flow. Before they had realized it, Rumella had been sitting with them for almost an hour. The attitude of the crowd was not necessarily pleasant, since the four young men were monopolizing Rumellas' time. With this, she decided that she should probably end her break, and go back to singing. As she walked away, she looked over her shoulder and winked at Harry.
"Bloody hell," Ron yelled, "You always have all the luck!"
Harry laughed, and with a grin said, "I'll be sure not to tell Hermione you said that Ron, I'm sure she wouldn't take it very kindly!"
"You know what I mean Harry! You know I wouldn't trade Hermione for the world," Ron said as he took a gulp of butterbeer. As Rumella mounted the stage, Fred and George become glassy eyed and made their way towards her. Ron and Harry both begin to laugh at how predictable the twins were when it came to women. Just as Rumella began to sing again, the door opened to the pub swung open rather sharply, and knocked over a nearby chair. Harry sprung to his feet without thinking. After three years of chasing the most evil and horrid wizards and witches alive, Harry was always prepared to defend himself. Sudden movements and loud noises always seemed to trigger his fight instinct. Looking towards the door, Harry was actually quite surprised. In walked Sirius.
Harry had not seen his godfather in about two months now, what with work keeping him busy, and Sirius getting his life back on track. Sirius has been cleared of all charges once Peter had been caught and had the truth extracted from him with whatever means were necessary. Sirius ran into a few problems and hostile wizards right after he was cleared, but over the past two years he had finally been accepted back into wizarding community by most. Sirius was able to start his life over completely. Being cleared of such heinous charges had now put him into his rightful place in life. He had been approached by the Ministry to start training as an Auror, which he had gladly accepted. Having quite a bit of experience with Dark Arts and wizards, he quickly rose in the ranks at the ministry and was now head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Albus Dumbledore was his biggest supporter, and no doubt played a large part in Sirius being brought into the Ministry. Sirius was on his way to becoming Minister of Magic, not that he really wanted that though. Being head of a department was enough responsibility for him. He was still trying to recapture the years he lost while in Azkaban.
"Harry, my boy, how are you doing?" Sirius said gruffly as he clapped him on the shoulder. Harry stood and extended his hand.
"Don't be so formal!" Sirius laughed, and gave him a quick hug. Ron extended his hand across the table to Sirius. Sirius firmly grasped his hand and gave it a good shake.
"Ron, life seems to be treating you well. Where's the Missus?" Sirius said slyly with a quick wink. Ron turned about five shades of red, looking quite like his face might explode.
"Uhhh, well, um..." he stammered. Not able to get any intelligible words out, Harry and Sirius both being to laugh. The three men sat around the table, making light conversation. Sirius seemed to be quite distracted and not really paying much attention to what either Ron or Harry was saying.
"So, Sirius, how are those fleas?" Harry said giving Ron a devious look. Ron stifled a laugh and tried to keep a straight face.
"Good, quite good actually. Yes, if I must say so," Sirius said out of the side of his mouth as he kept his eyes glued to the stage. Harry and Ron exchanged a knowing glance. Sirius was completely enthralled by the lovely singer onstage. The boys decided to order another round for themselves and Sirius, as well as the twins, if they could get their attention. On his way up to the bar to retrieve the five butterbeers, Ron was able to distract Fred long enough to tell him that Sirius was there. Fred followed Ron to the bar to lend a hand in carrying the beers.
"Well, it seems that the two of you have taken quite a liking to Rumella," Ron said as he sloshed beer all over the table.
"Rumella, is that her name? What a beautiful name," Sirius said in a voice that could only be described as slightly dreamy. All four of the boys looked at one another and burst out laughing.
"What? What did I say," Sirius said, looking quite confused. It was obvious to all of them that Sirius had taken a liking to Rumella. Sirius had not been seeing anyone since he was released from Azkaban. He spent what spare time he had working for the Order, which didn't really allow him to pursue any women, much to the dismay of the single witches around London. He hadn't noticed that he'd been staring absent-mindedly at the stage since he sat down at the table. It'd been almost an hour, and he had become completely mesmerized by her voice, and those beautiful blue eyes.
"Oh nothing, nothing at all Sirius," Fred said through a stifled laugh. "She is quite gorgeous, if I must say so myself. Since it is obvious that you have become quite entranced by her, I will be happy to step aside, so as not to cause any dissention between our friendship Sirius. I don't want to be the cause of any heartache for you!" With that, all five of them began to laugh loudly. With Fred's dramatic sacrificial speech, Sirius was brought back to reality. As conversation began to flow again, the sound of Rumellas' voice was still lurking in the depths of Sirius's mind.
"I think I must call it a night boys," Harry yawned. "I'll be heading back to my flat, Ron you're going that way aren't you?"
"Yeah, I guess now's a good time to head on back. Hermione will be wondering where I've been so long."
George made a movement like cracking a whip, "Ronnikins, you are so whipped!"
With the last insult of the night being thrown out, they all said their goodbyes and headed their separate ways. Ron and Harry to London and Fred and George back to their headquarters, in of all places, Hogsmeade.
As the boys headed off in separate directions, Sirius made a quick entrance back into the pub. He knew that he had to meet Rumella, and look into those beautiful eyes. As he made his way back into the pub, he chose a table between the stage and the bar. He sat facing Rumella as she crooned a slow sultry song to the crowd. As she looked through the audience, he watched her intently, wondering what kind of woman she was. Was she the type of women who could keep his attention? Could she be someone he, Sirius Black, could spend more then one night with. He was hoping to find out in the very near future. As these thoughts raced through his mind, he heard her announce that she was going to singing her last song of the night. With that, he returned his attention to the stage to listen to her voice and quieted the train wreck in his mind.
Rumella was finishing her last song, as she noticed the darkly handsome man that had been sitting with Harry Potter and the redheaded boys. He was gazing rather intently at her, which was beginning to make her feel a little self-conscious. She could feel her cheeks begin to turn hot, and not knowing why she couldn't keep from smiling. He was rather handsome; actually he was probably one of the most handsome men she had ever seen. He had luxuriously thick hair that fell across his forehead whenever he moved and eyes so dark they looked black. His eyes were so piercing, she felt as if he could see right through her, and she turned away slightly. But only long enough to realize that his stare was quite enticing. She turned back towards him, and noticed mouth, and the full lips, the type of lips that scream, "KISS ME." With that, she had to turn away, for fear of giving herself away and to avoid that stare, knowing that he surely would realize that she was quite turned on by his stare.
Rumella finally finished her last song, thanked the crowd, and made her way towards the bar. She told the barkeeper goodnight, and thanked him for letting her sing. She headed towards the door, only to feel a hand grasp her wrist. Her heart leapt in her throat, as she hoped that it was the dark handsome man that had been watching her. She turned around slowly as Sirius stood up. She started to blush again, and she didn't even know why. He pulled out a chair for her, and motioned to the barkeeper to bring her a drink. Not even hesitating, she gladly sat down across from him. He was still standing, waiting for the barkeeper to make his way over. She was able to tell now, that he was quite tall and was built rather well. He looked a bit older then her, but he was so handsome that it didn't even matter. He sat down across from her and handed her the drink.
"My name is Sirius," he said in a velvety deep voice. She tried to respond, but her voice seemed to have left her body. She took a deep breath, and deep swig of her drink. Setting it down, she looked across the table into his eyes. She felt that she didn't even really need to respond yet. They sat in silence for a few minutes, sipping on their drinks and looking at one another. Finally she felt as if she had regained her voice.
"I'm Rumella Coringa," she said timidly. He stretched his hand across the table and laid it on top of hers and gave it a little squeeze.
"It is my pleasure to met you," Sirius said in a most humble voice. "You have the most beautiful voice I think I've ever heard. It was quite difficult for to concentrate while you were singing. I think I might have embarrassed myself in front of my friends."
"You surely don't seem the type to be easily embarrassed," she said laughingly, remembering the way her was looking at her earlier. With introductions out of the way, they began to speak freely, asking each other questions, and getting to know one another. They talked for hours that night, and were the last ones to leave the pub. The barkeeper had finally had to ask them to leave, as it was now four in the morning. Neither had realized it had gotten so late. As they headed out the door, Sirius offered her his coat and asked if he could walk her home. She said that she lived about four blocks away, and would enjoy the company. As they walked through the streets, Sirius reached for her hand. She felt his fingers brush against hers and knew that she was not quite ready to part ways with him. Walking hand in hand, they talked more about their lives. When they were in front of her flat, she stopped, turned to him and smiled.
"This is it, I'm on the third floor. I'd invite you up, but it is rather late, and my flats just a mess right now," she said in one long breath. He squeezed her hand, wanting her to know that he completely understood. He leaned in and kissed her quickly on the cheek.
"I enjoyed tonight," he said as he backed away. "Would you like to have dinner with me this week sometime?" He held his breath, hoping that she would say yes. He didn't have to hold his breath very long, because before he had barely finished asking, she had already said yes. He glanced at her flat number, so he would know where to send an owl the next day. With that, she headed up the stairs. He stayed on the street until she had made it inside. As she was shutting the door behind her, she got one last glimpse of him as he turned away. Rumella leaned against the wall inside the door, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. It just didn't seem real. Could she actually be this lucky? Maybe she was really reading too much into it, she had only just met him a few hours ago.
"I'll give it a few dates, and then see what I think," she whispered under her breath. With this, she started up the stairs to her lonely flat. She knew it would be dark and quite, but the sun would be coming up soon to begin a new day.
Sirius walked down the block whistling a little tune, not even thinking about the time. Realizing he was the only one on the street, he ducked around a corner and apparated to his house.
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Hermione yawned deeply, rubbed her eyes and looked over at the clock. How had it gotten so late? It seemed like just ten minutes ago it had been barely dark outside. She had been stretched out on the couch reading up on the newest charms. Hermione had finished at Hogwarts the same year as Ron and Harry. She had finished with the highest marks in their class, as well as the highest marks in the last fifty years. No one was really surprised by this because she had spent the majority of her last two years in the library studying. Ron was always rather displeased by this, because that left very little time for the two of them to spend together. It was probably for the best though. She had been asked to spend a year at the highest marked advanced wizarding school, Clinkens Academy of Wizarding. With this extra year of studying, she had then been asked to join a research team that the Ministry was funding. She had spent the last two years researching and practicing the newest charms and potions. This also gave her a chance to help develop some new things in the top of the line practical lab. She really couldn't have asked for a better job for now. It was exactly what she loved doing, research and studying.
Living in London had been quite expensive after she had finished the Academy, so she had asked Ginny Weasley if she would be interested in sharing a place with her until they each could afford their own. This had probably been one of the best things that had happened to Hermione. In school, most of her friends had been boys, and her best friends were Ron and Harry. She hadn't had much exposure to girls or all the experiences from having a close girl friend. Ginny had finished Hogwarts about a month after she had finished at the Academy, so it worked out perfectly.
When they first moved in together, they had stayed up late at night, talking about everything. Hermione never really talked about Ron, because Ginny always got a horrible look on her face and turned an odd shade of green when she brought him up. Ginny had always had a little thing for Harry, and over the years, it still hadn't completely dissipated. This was always a prominent topic of discussion between the two.
Ginny had decided to take a position working for Fred and George. She absolutely adored the freedom she had working for her brothers. She was head of their marketing and shipping department. In the past two years, she had expanded their market by almost thirty percent, so the boys let her do pretty much whatever she wanted to. With having such freedom in her schedule, and being paid as well as she was by her brothers she was able to travel quite a bit. This actually worked out well for both of the girls, but they both made sure to be home on Tuesdays when the boys had their night out at the pub. They would cook a nice dinner, put on some quite music, and sit and talk for hours. Ginny would tell Hermione about where she had gone that week, normally somewhere exotic and sunny, and Hermione would try to keep her attention by telling her about the newest charm she was researching. Hermione always looked forward to the Tuesday nights she and Ginny spent talking and laughing.