Remus and Sirius sat in the Common Room, relaxing in the drowsy winter afternoon. Sirius stretched his legs in front of him towards the warmth of the fire. "Last afternoon before the new term begins. It's nice not to have homework to ignore."

Remus snickered. "You're lucky you're reasonably intelligent, Padfoot. I don't know how you manage to get by on as little effort as you put in."

"It's a gift," Sirius closed his eyes lazily.

"What do you think of Beth?" Remus put his hands behind his head, stretching his shoulders.

"What's to think?" Sirius didn't open his eyes. "She's a skirt, doesn't hurt to look at her."

Remus snorted. "That's an understatement. She's gorgeous and you know it, Black. But I was asking what you thought of her as a person. She seems nice. Genuine."

"She shows her feelings too much," Sirius commented. "Some of the pricks around her will chew her up and spit her out."

"You're one of the biggest pricks around here, Padfoot." Remus reminded him. "Is that what you'll do to her?"

Sirius grinned and opened his eyes. "She should be so lucky."

Remus shook his head at him. "Be careful, Sirius. Lily is watching out for her and you know how protective she gets." He spotted Beth coming down the girls' staircase and elbowed Sirius to shut up as Sirius muttered under his breath that Lily didn't scare him.

Beth spotted them, quickly came over and set down her cassette tape player on the coffee table. She sat down next to Sirius. "What's that?" Remus asked.

"My cassette tape player," she told Remus and Sirius. "I brought this so I could play music in Muggle Studies."

"How does that thing work?" Remus leaned forward and stared at the buttons.

"The music is recorded on a tape. You punch this button to make it play," she pushed a button and a song started. "This is the song Sirius hates." She gave Sirius a mocking grin. "I'm pretty sure he'll always think of me from now on when he hears it."

Sirius grimaced as Remus listened, head cocked, to the song 'Beth'. "It's really brill," Remus said when it finished. "Haunting melody, classic issue of a guy torn between his girl and his friends." He looked at Sirius quizzically. "Why do you hate it?"

"I don't hate it," Sirius clarified. "I just think it's a fucking wussy song for a rock band."

"What—guys in a rock band can't fall in love?" Beth stared at him. "That's beneath them or something?"

"No," Sirius frowned at her. "They just can't whine about missing their girlfriend when they're with their mates. Sodding idiot."

Beth snorted. "You've never been in love, have you?"

"Hell no," Sirius admitted. "But when I am you won't find me acting like a sap."

Remus was inspecting the cassette player. "Why is there a cord that is attached to this box?" he asked picking up the box which was heavy for its size.

"That's special for me," Beth pulled the box from his hand and yanked out a plug. "Normally, you plug this into the wall so it will get electricity to run the player. Since the wizarding world doesn't have electricity, my uncle made special batteries for me. These batteries have way more capacity than normal ones and my equipment can plug into them for power."

"What other equipment do you have?" Sirius asked.

"A camera, a video camera, a video player and a T.V.," Beth said.

"What the fuck for?" Sirius sounded put out. Beth had already figured out that was a fairly normal tone for him.

"To use for my Muggle Studies lectures," Beth said. "They'll be good demos."

"You're into technology, then?" Remus inquired. "How does the cassette player get music from that little tape?"

"Yeah, I love technology." Beth popped open the tape player and pulled out the cassette. She put it on her hand to show Remus and Sirius. "When a tape is recorded, an electromagnet applies a magnetic flux to the oxide on the tape. See the tape hanging out at the bottom? That's where the tape runs through the player so it can convert the magnetic recording to a signal which is then amplified through the speakers so we can hear it."

"What?" Remus asked bemused. His expression was so confused, she laughed.

"You guys don't depend on technology the way muggles do. You have magic instead. We have to keep inventing things and we still can't do what you can."

Sirius shook his head. "You're not going to make our Muggle Studies class learn how a tape player works, are you?"

Beth practically choked with mirth at his aghast tone. "Of course not. I might mention it if someone asks. Most muggles don't know how it works either. They just know how to push the buttons to make it play."

"That's a relief," Sirius muttered. He'd never admit how much he found Beth's enthusiasm appealing but he didn't need to add more work to his classes.

Peter sauntered up and flopped down in an armchair next to Remus. "Did you meet Peter yesterday, Beth?" Remus asked politely.

"Yes, at dinner," Beth nodded a greeting to Peter. Peter looked at her with undisguised interest and Sirius frowned at him. Wanker practically had his tongue hanging out of his mouth.

"Are you taking Muggle Studies, Peter?" Beth asked.

"No," Peter shook his head. "My schedule's too full."

"Beth was just showing us her music cassette player," Remus told Peter. "She's going to use it when she teaches Muggle Studies."

Peter leaned forward. "Can you play something?"

Beth smirked. "What will you give me, Sirius, to not play that song again?"

"You owe me one for coercing me to play bloody Charades last night," Sirius gave her a cold stare. James had given him plenty of shit for caving on that.

"I'm just helping you expand your horizons," Beth elbowed him. "It made Lily happy anyway."

"Where are James and Lily?" Sirius asked.

"Probably snogging in a dark corner," Peter said flippantly.

Beth looked confused. "Doing what in a dark corner?"

Sirius gave her an amused stare. "It's when you kiss passionately. Don't tell me you Yanks don't do that."

"Oh," Beth's cheeks turned pink. "We call it making out." Sirius raised his eyebrows, mentally filing that information away.

Remus cleared his throat. "James and Lily are getting ready for the Prefect meeting tonight."

Beth rewound the tape to the beginning and turned it on for Peter. "Let's see if this meets Sirius' approval," she said as 'Magic Man' by Heart played.

Sirius grinned as he listened. "I haven't heard this before. It's funny they don't mean real magic."

"What kind of magic do they mean?" Peter asked, confused.

Sirius made a sound of disgust. Remus looked at Beth who blushed again but finally answered. "The singer means he seduced her."

"Oh," Peter still looked perplexed. "How is that magic?"

Sirius raised his eyebrows and grinned wolfishly at Beth. "Maybe you should also teach a sex ed class."

Beth smacked his arm and spoke quietly so only he could hear. "I'm pretty sure I'm not qualified."

"Really?" Sirius' stare showed he knew what she meant. He leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Don't they say those that can't do it, teach?"

"Moron." Beth was unable to keep her lips from quirking as she turned to stare at him. He was so close she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. "I'll teach you a lesson someday."

Sirius positively leered at her. "Promise?"

"If you play your cards right." Beth's face was flaming, but she couldn't resist throwing his words back at him. Sirius reared back his head and roared with laughter.

"Unfortunately, my friends are sitting right here, so I can't take you up on that right now." Sirius shook his head, his eyes bright with mirth. "Oh Beth, what can I do?" He sang with a raspy voice.

"You can quit being such an asshole," Beth said but she couldn't help laughing. Her eyes slid to Remus who was quietly talking to Peter, tactfully ignoring their flirting. She appreciated his sensitivity, quite a contrast to Sirius. For the next several minutes, Beth chatted with Remus and Peter, ignoring Sirius lying between them who had closed his eyes again.

Beth's eyes started to droop. "Jetlagged?" Remus asked sympathetically when he saw her stifle a yawn.

Beth nodded. "It's an eight-hour time difference," she said sleepily. "Which means it's around midnight at home now."

"Where are you from?" Peter asked, surprised that it could be that many hours different. Geography wasn't his strong suit.

"Oregon which is on the West Coast." Beth let her head slump back against the couch, kicked off her shoes and curled her legs up underneath her body. "Don't mind me, I'm just going to shut my eyes for a minute." Her eyes closed.

When she woke up, she opened her eyes to see Sirius still lying next to her, lazily turning the pages of a magazine. Peter and Remus had left and the sun had gone down outside. Beth sat up slowly, drawing Sirius' attention. "Did I sleep long?" she mumbled.

"About an hour," Sirius said. He watched Beth as she slowly unfolded, stretching her arms wide and as far behind her as they could go. Her curly hair looked tousled, her face was relaxed from sleep and her t-shirt was bunched on one side, leaving the other side taut. His mouth went dry and he swallowed hard.

"Where's Remus and Peter?" Beth asked after she had finished stretching. When she looked at Sirius, she was surprised to find his eyes fixed on her with a blank expression. He shook his head a little and his characteristic scowl came back on his face. "Remus is at the Prefects' Meeting. Peter was hungry, he went to dinner early."

"Oh," Beth didn't want to tell Sirius but she was starving. Not normal early dinner hungry, but famished, as if she hadn't eaten in days instead of at lunch a few hours earlier. My circadian rhythm must be all messed up, she thought ruefully.

Sirius stood up and extended his hand to her. "Come on, Peterson. Let me buy you dinner." He grinned when her eyes rose to meet his, surprised.

"How did you know I was hungry?" Beth put her hand in his and let him pull her up. She slipped on her shoes and they started towards the Portrait Hole.

"That poker face of yours. You practically started salivating when I mentioned Peter had gone to dinner." Sirius pushed the Portrait Hole open and they stepped into the hall.

"I'm not sure I like how well you can read me," Beth pouted.

"Don't worry. You're female. That means I'm bound to screw up and misunderstand you most of the time." Sirius chuckled at her.

"Well, that makes me feel much better," Beth said drily. "Let's just keep perpetuating stereotypes."

Sirius grinned and put his arm around her. "I can do that."