Last year it was The Official Unwritten Slash Month, this year it's the Official Challenge Month. The similarities? A month of fics by one author. The difference? This time, YOU are in control.

Each fic will be written based on a challenge. This can be any type of challenge, from a single word to a full-blown challenge. The rules are simple, they must be Harry Potter and they must be slash. So get involved, get reviewing and together we'll make November the Challenge Month.

(Challenges can be submitted via Reviews, or, preferably, emails until the Fanfiction messages service starts to work. If your submission is anonymous, please leave an email address so I can contact you if I chose to write your fic, this address will also be kept private.)

Challenge: Sirius and James, from Harry's point of view, with the phrase "Because I love you, you idiot."

Eavesdropping

Harry watched around the doorway, stifling emabrrased giggles and his shock as he watched Sirius and his father in their living room. His dad was on the sofa, lying on his back, shirtless. Sirius was knelt over him, stroking his chest almost reverently and kissing him occasionally. He must have done something Harry couldn't see, because his dad made a mewling sound like their kitten used to make, pushing his chest up into Sirius' hands.

Sirius was sporting a familiar smirk, one that said "I've won and you know it". His eyes seemed a lot softer than Harry was used to, however, and whenever his dad made one of those sounds, Sirius' lips were too occupied with kissing him to have any expression. Harry gasped when Sirius sat up further and tugged his own shirt off, exposing a nicely muscled, tanned chest. Sirius loved gardening, and he and Harry would spend hours in the garden building their muscles and tans in the summer. His dad was a lot paler next to Sirius, but somehow the contrast worked with them.

Harry blushed as he realised he was looking at his dad and Godfatehr and thinking they were attractive. He ducked his head and backed away from the doorway, too late to miss a loud sound from his dad. Sirius made a low chuckling noise that Harry recognised and would forever make him blush now. He muffled a hysterical laugh as he overheard his dad growling, "Sirius, you do not stick your hand down someone's trousers then pull back when they start enjoying themselves! Put it back no-oh!" His dad was cut off with another one of those sounds he made, and Harry was tempted to cover his ears.

"Sometimes I wonder why you put up with me." Sirius murmured, his voice coming out strangely muffled. Harry heard a strange, strangled laugh emerge, and knew it was his dad, before he finally replied.

"Because I love you, you idiot."

Harry gasped, somehow the knowledge that Sirius had been living with them practically as another parent since his mother's death ten years ago, somehow the periphery knowledge (never proven in such a way until now) that they were having sex, somehow the understanding of their entire lives together hadn't prepared him for this. Prepared him for the knowledge that his parents - Sirius and his dad - were in love. He backed away quickly, sensing that, although it hadn't been terrible to listen while he'd been in shock, this was far too intimate to be listening to.

It made him smile, though, to think that his parents had found love. His mum, who was now only the vague memory of a five year old boy, would approve. Somehow he knew that, knew that she sensed that they were happy, and knew she was happy for them.