A/N - I know I know I know. I'm a dreadful updater, but If I gave you all my reasons, then the AN would be loner than the fic, so I won't. But you'll be pleased to know that this chapter is much more light hearted, since I realised it'll been a bit angsty up to now!

Disclaimer: *insert witty disclaimer here*

Sirius should have contented, happy. The house was bustling with teenagers, Ron having lived up a little since Arthur had brought Hermione over the previous evening. The kitchen felt warmer and cosier than Sirius ever remembered it, the smell of Molly's cooking wafting through the entire house. But Sirius couldn't rest, couldn't relax - Remus was up to something.

Thirteen years had altered many things, but not the look that came over Remus when he was plotting. Usually, this look was a source of great joy for Sirius, because it meant that one of the best tricks ever was about to be played on the students and staff of Hogwarts. Despite his quiet nature, Remus Lupin was not to be underestimated when it came to causing havoc. Although he always took some persuading, when Remus was on board a plan could never fail. But that was exactly what was making Sirius nervous. What made him doubly nervous was that he was deep in whispered conversation with Fred and George Weasley.

When he could bear it no longer Sirius practically leapt from his chair and stormed towards the library. The smell of the old books comforted him, though he tried not to look at the names of the books on the shelves, his parents hadn't been interested in much that wasn't Pureblood Propaganda. As he collapsed into one of the beaten old leather armchairs, he heard a pair of irritable voices drifting towards him.

"Hermione, remind me, what month is it?"

"August, Ron."

"And do we have school in August?"

"No."

"Then why are we in a Library?"

Sirius smiled to himself as Hermione gave an exasperated sigh.

"Because there are desks here, and I like books."

"Including When Mudbloods Turn Dirty? Even you can't like these books." Ron protested, and Sirius had to admit he had a point.

"The subject matter isn't exactly my favourite, but they're still incredibly interesting. It's one of those things about the Wizarding World that fascinates me, because for all the magic it's still far less developed than the Muggle world in so many ways. It's funny the way that Muggles used to persecute Wizards, but that's hardly made them aware of just how wrong that sort of thing is. The way werewolves and House Elves and Muggleborns are treated by some people is really quite shocking." Hermione stated, and Sirius heard Ron splutter a few times before lapsing into silence. Though the silence, admittedly, did not last long.

"We're not... we're not all prejudiced, you know." He stuttered eventually.

"I know that Ronald, I'm not accusing you of anything. That would be ridiculous, after you spent all those hours throwing up slugs in second year." Sirius could hear the smile in her voice.

"Yeah... well... couldn't let Malfoy get away with calling you a, y'know."

"I know, Ron. It was very gallant of you."

"Could I have that in writing, please?" Ron laughed,

"So you can produce it with flair the next time we have an argument? I think not." Hermione replied, and Sirius chuckled quietly to himself.

"What makes you so certain we will have another argument?"

"Because you are a tit, Ronald."

"And you're a know-it-all."

"Glad we got that clear."

As the pair of them dissolved into laughter, Sirius suddenly felt a wave of pity towards Harry. He'd always felt so lucky that, when James eventually won Lily over, he had Remus and Peter to make faces at and have a decent, woman free conversation with. It was no wonder Harry felt so alienated from what was going on, when Ron and Hermione were here, together. He removed himself from the armchair and strode quickly out of the Library, almost bumping into Ginny on his way out.

"Oh, Sirius, sorry. Hermione isn't in there is she?"

"Yeah, with Ron." He told her, and Ginny made a face,

"It can wait." She said, turning back towards the stairs. Sirius was about to follow suit when he was intercepted by two more red-headed figures with identical grins plastered on their faces.

"Mr Padfoot, it has come to the attention of Mr Moony that you have been a sulky git recently, and this requires remedying immediately." Said one of them, he thought it was Fred.

"He therefore requests your immediate presence in the drawing room." His brother finished, and they frogmarched him down the hall and into the drawing room, where Remus was seated in one of the high-backed chairs.

"Good afternoon, Sirius."

"Remus, what the hell is going on? You look like a villain from one of Lily's ridiculous Muggle spy-films," Sirius insisted, eyeing his old friend and the Weasley twins with suspicion.

"Well, as my excellent co-conspirators have doubtless informed you, I have been concerned with your excessive sulking over the past week. Naturally, my position as your friend and all-round Nanny requires me to do something about this, lest your health suffer as a result."

"Naturally," Fred cut in, "he came to the conclusion that the only cure for a melancholy Marauder is a good old fashioned prank."

Sirius's mouth fell open. He stared from Fred to George to Remus, who smirked infuriatingly back at him before he found his own lips contorting into an inescapable smile.

"My my, Moony, I am shocked to my very core that you still had it in you." Sirius admitted, and Remus's smile widened.

"Trust me, Padfoot, so am I," he replied, his eye twinkling in a way that Sirius hadn't seen for over a decade.

"Shall we get started, then?" George said, rubbing his hands together, "Fred and I have been taking a look around the kitchen and we think there is great potential in..."

"If you're thinking about making Molly our victim, I'm going to have to stop you right there. I'm really quite fond of my limbs, and would prefer to keep them all. Besides, I think she has enough on her plate without the four of us ganging up on her." Remus pointed out, and the twins looked crestfallen for just a second before brightening up.

"Excellent, always keen for an excuse to educate our darling Ronnikins." Fred exclaimed, and Sirius smiled.

"Well then, boys, I think I have an excellent idea." Sirius grinned, leaning in conspiratorially, "Now, I might be mistaken in my understanding of the situation, but might Harry have the right to feel just a little... superfluous when in the company of his two best friends?"
Identical grins began to spread slowly but surely across the faces of the twins.

"You just might, Sirius, old chap. You just might." George said, with a wink.

"We figured it out around third year," Fred explained, as Remus nodded along, "though neither of them had any idea, obviously. The Vicky appeared on the scene and I think our darling Ronnikins might have had something of a realisation, though how full this is we are as yet unsure."

"Well then, I think I know a way to help our young friends find their way." Sirius breathed, and as his mind whirred around library books and sticky cables and half forgotten charms, he felt a twinge of something he had thought long forgotten: excitement. It was hardly a mission for the Order, or even a jaunt into the outside world, but it was something: the best something to have happened to Sirius in a long while.

Remus saw this, and he smiled.

The next day found Ron and Hermione (as well as Sirius, Remus, Fred and George, crouching out of sight) back in the Library, Hermione scribbling away on a piece of parchment.

"I thought you said you'd done all your work." Ron observed, as Hermione dipped her quill back into the inkpot, staining her fingers with black ink.

"I have," was her absent minded reply, "I'm just writing a letter."

"Didn't you write to Harry and your parents two days ago?" Ron pointed out, eliciting an exasperated sigh from Hermione.

"Perhaps I'm not writing to them."

"Well then who the bloody hell are you writing to?"

"Not that it's any of your business," Hermione told him, sharply, "but I am writing to Viktor, as he asked me to."

There followed a long silence, in which Ron opened and closed his mouth like fish, and Fred and George had to stifle their laughter in the backs of their hands.

"He... Viktor Kru... asked you..." He stammered, and Sirius could swear the corners of Hermione's lips twitched upwards.

"Yes, Ronald. He asked me to visit him as well, but I thought that would probably involve a lot of watching him practice Quidditch, and you know how dull I find that." She said nonchalantly, folding the letter and tucking it away into an envelope as Ron gaped at her.

Behind the bookcase through which the conspirators viewed the scene, Fred raised a questioning eyebrow and Sirius nodded. Now was the moment.
With a silent flick of his wand, Fred lifted Managing Muggles and their Malevolence off the shelf directly above Hermione's head, holding it in front of Ron's face. Ron's eyes widened, and he breathed,

"Hermione..."

"What is it now, Ron?" She asked rather irritably, as another book (expertly manoeuvred by Remus) lifted itself from the dusty shelves and floated idly between the pair,

"Oh." Hermione said, rising slowly from her seat, eyes fixed on the hovering volume before her. She reached out to touch it, but the book jumped away, just a little closer to Ron, and Hermione followed it, her hand still stretched before her in an attempt to grasp the maverick book. Only when she and Ron were inches apart did Sirius and George act; it was as though the shelves had exploded, and both Hermione and Ron screamed. In all the commotion, neither noticed that the black ribbons attached to the spines of the books were growing longer and longer and were twining themselves around the pair.

Neither noticed what was happening until it was too late, and they were pressed flush against each other, the ribbons that surrounded them having merged into one mass, holding them in the position they had flown into entirely of their own accord when the book explosion took place: Ron having thrown his arms around Hermione in what Sirius imagined was a gallant attempt to protect her from the feral paper.

"If Fred and George aren't behind this, I'll eat my Runes textbook." Hermione muttered, more to herself than anything else.

"I'm going to kill them in their sleep." Ron growled, "Or would that be too painless?"

"Definitely too painless," Hermione agreed, "I don't suppose you have your wand, do you?"

"In my back pocket."

"Ah."

A/N - Reviews? I'm not sure exactly what I think of this one, so would be muchos grateful for feedback :)