Harry caught wind of a modest invitation from Dumbledore requesting for Harry's presence mid-afternoon on the Tuesday after the Holiday return. Harry knew it wasn't going to be anything of a formal nature, so he had no problem rolling out of bed and heading down the hallways to meet with his headmaster.

Dumbledore was standing stoically, petting Fawkes on his head clearly waiting for Harry to enter through his cement staircase.

"Ah Harry! How lovely to see you! How was your holiday?"

"It was really nice." Harry groggily answered.

"I hope you enjoyed your gift from Miss Bloom." He stepped toward Harry.

"I loved it." Harry smiled to himself.

"I have a feeling you haven't called me here to discuss holiday though."

"No unfortunately not, Harry. I am afraid it is back to darker times. Please join me."

The two dipped their heads into the pensive and Harry was surprised that every time his face fell underneath the surface, the more he learned that Tom Riddle was not so far away from the same sixth year Harry Potter. This lesson showed of how the Death Eaters arose, and how they started off almost as simple as Dumbledore's Army did, but with darker intentions.

Dumbledore then showed Harry another memory, one that had been tampered with whereas he asked Harry to use his repertoire with Slughorn to reveal the true incident. Dumbledore knew that Slughorn had fudged out the real portion of what Tom Riddle had said to him in his office that day, but Harry was the only one who had a chance to figure it out. The same cool rush Harry felt as his face lifted from the airy water came much longer than expected, whereas he stood face to face with his mentor.

"Harry, you must find it in your time to get the true memory back. This may be a very crucial key to the demise of Voldemort."

"Now that holiday is over, the Slug Club parties will die down and I will have more time to get him alone."

"Fantastic Harry. I am counting on you."

"Professor, Ginny was telling me about Lia having news about Hog-"

"Harry, I am much to old to be interfering with such young love. Here take this to her, maybe she will tell you herself." Dumbledore handed Harry a wildly colored rose from out of a slate colored vase.

Harry took the rose as a departing gift and made his way straight to the common room. Two perfect dents were left in the large couch across from the fireplace, so Harry knew it hadn't been long that the girls had departed. Ron was sitting at the far table studying what looked like a book about Quidditch, and took nearly a whole minute before he realized Harry was there.

"Ron…" Harry called across the room.

"Oh Harry, sorry. I just got done unpacking, came down here and those two were sleeping, looks like they straight up passed out on the couch last night. I didn't want to go get smothered by Lavender, or disturb those two sleeping, so I just stayed in this dark corner." Ron whispered.

"Ah." Harry added as he pulled up a chair.

Ron clearly noticed the flamboyant rose in between Harry's fingers.

"They went up a few minutes ago to shower. You don't suppose they shower together, do you?"

"Ron!" Harry spat at him.

"What? Don't act like you don't think about that kind of stuff. Those two are always together; they're both attractive. It's more of a compliment than a… pervy thing."

"I don't think of Hermione like that ever. " Harry was nearly sickened, "She's like my sister, Ron."

"Oh, you don't? I have." Ron trailed off.

Harry couldn't keep it straight in his head the many of times he thought of Lia explicitly; especially thinking about the night after the first Quidditch match, watching her head throw back while he was in between her legs.

"Don't be such a prude, Harry. "

"Me? I'm not! All I am saying is that I don't think of Hermione like that…. that's all."

"I swear one time I saw them kiss. "

"Who?" The boys heard a distant voice coming from down the stairs.

Lia was nearly at the bottom of the stairs, scrunching her wet hair with a towel.

"No one." Ron quickly blurted out.

"If you're talking about Hermione and I, you definitely did not see us kiss. No one did." She casually admitted as she joined them at the table.

The two sat speechless, eyes wide as saucers and mouths open askew.

"I'm sorry, did you just say that you and Hermione have kissed?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, before we started dating." Lia nonchalantly added.

Ron leaned in, nearly licking his lips waiting for Lia to go on. She clearly caught on to Ron's weird obsession over the two of them and decided to play into it.

"That night after Hogsmeade. After Harry and I said goodnight I retreated back to the dorm, and Hermione had somehow gotten all of her clothes off and was lying in my bed. Now, the only unusual part was that she was naked because Hermione and I often cuddle throughout the night when it gets cold in our portion of the dorms. I didn't think twice about crawling into bed next to her."

Harry and Ron looked at each other, Ron's heart raced with excitement while Harry's swelled with jealousy.

"She dug her head into my chest and started giggling. The butterbeer was just about wearing off at the point. Hermione's soft skin rubbed against my body, as she pulled herself closer. She leaned her head back softly, so close that her faint freckles on her cheeks were visible even in the dim lighting."

"She said 'Lia, I've never kissed a girl before, but you're so beautiful, and I think about what it would be like to kiss you'"

Ron was nearly off the edge of his seat and his mouth could've touched the ground from it being open so wide.

"I said 'Hermione, we are such good friends, if you want to see what it's like to kiss me then do it. She exhaled on my lips, and then they sweetly touched mine. It was gentle, and kind, but then she must've liked it because I felt her wet tongue inside my mouth, and her hand trailing down my stomach…"

"Gotta go, see you later, Harry." Ron nearly yelled as he ran off.

Lia chuckled to herself and continued drying her hair, clearly noticing the staleness on Harry's face.

"That's the first time I heard that story." Harry said shortly.

"I may have over exaggerated a few things. But I heard the whole conversation between you two. If Ron wants to think perverted thoughts about Hermione and I then I have every right to mess with him for it. "

"So, none of it was true…" Harry asked.

"Well, some of it was. The romanticism wasn't quite there. It was more like I walked into the dorm, started undressing for my pajamas and Hermione kind of drunkenly attacked me."

"Did she…?"

"Harry, why do you want to know? It was before we started dating and Hermione was stupidly tipsy."

"I dunno. I guess I want to know if my best friend fucked you before I did."

"No Harry, Jesus. That story was just made-"

"You two! On New Years! I bet the lot of you got drunk and kissed all night."

"Harry, I am so offended that you think I would ever cheat on you. Hermione is my best friend. I love her like a sister. "

"You love her like something."

"What! What do you want? Do you want to know that Hermione and I drunkenly made out and then she made me cum like you did? The answer is no."

"Before Hermione and I established this amazing friendship, we kissed. Okay? Are you happy? Yes, we kissed one time."

"Did you like it?"

"Of course I liked it, Harry. Hermione is a damn good kisser. But I never have thought of her in that way. It literally was a 'caught up in the moment' thing. Once she sobered up completely she felt horrible, had no idea you had kissed me only a few minutes earlier and nearly cried herself to sleep after a long shower."

"Lovely."

"Harry, you're being absolutely ridiculous."

"You tell this elaborate story about how you two are making out naked in your bed and Hermione is about to shove her hand down your pants. It doesn't make me happy."

"I'm sorry, Harry. It was wrong of me and I shouldn't have done it. But I promise you that Hermione's hands have never been down my pants, her lips have only touched my mouth. That's all it will ever be. "

"I just never thought my competition would be Hermione."

"Hermione is my absolute best friend in the world, Harry. You know how special she is to me, and to you. "

"I know, I should've caught on by the way you were scrunching your eyebrows that you were telling a long tale. I've kissed girls before and I shouldn't be upset that you have as well." Harry handed her Dumbledore's strange rose.

"Now, I hear around that you have some news to tell me?" Harry asked, scooting closer to her.

"Yeah, I do. "

"Get it out then!" Harry urged.

"I was speaking with Headmaster Fink, and he knows the talents I have and has seen me flourish here at Hogwarts more than I think I ever could at Eaglecrest… and well, Dumbledore, Snape and Fink said that if I want to finish out my 7th year here at Hogwarts next year, that would be fine. The only contingency is that I would have to substitute for Snape or McGonagall if for any reason they were needed elsewhere in the castle."

"So you would be teaching here?"

"Not fully by myself, but if either teachers wanted the day off the tend to House matters I would to be filling in for them."

"What did you say?"

"What do you think I said, Harry? Of course I agreed."

"Dumbledore said there are plenty of extra living spaces at Hogwarts or Fink said it would be no issue to set me up a flat that Eaglecrest would pay for as some sort of exchange program for enrichment of my education."

"So it's set, you're staying here."

"Yeah, I guess that's the case."

"That's fantastic!" Harry hugged her.

"I can't believe that Snape agreed to have me sub for him… strange enough he suggested the idea."

Harry was bouncing with so many springs of excitement any little bit of jealousy had easily been flushed away and quickly forgotten.

"I can't believe that this is where my life is going. I always wanted to teach, I never knew I would be getting a jumpstart already."

She paused and bit her lip.

"Professor Sprout is thinking about traveling to the Caribbean to study tropic plants and how they can influence the wizarding world. The spot will be opening up by the time I graduate."

"Lia, you are brilliant. Seriously, utterly just magnificent."

Lia scooted her chair as close to Harry as space would allow.

"Harry, I know it's not going to be a white picket fence life from here. I know that we aren't going to go through year seven, and I'll happily become a professor, pop out a few kids and you'll go off to your 9-5 Ministry job. A war is coming…. Hell, it's already here. I know what you have to do. But after all of that is done, and Voldemort is dead, we will get there, and finally have a home. Until then, let just pretend that we are already there, okay?"

Harry couldn't reply; he had been so wrapped up in new love and what seemed to be a smooth first half of the year he had completely let the constant dread of knowing that there was a war brewing violently underneath his nose. The thought made him physically ill that behind the movie screen he had been watching was a fire blazing ready to burn the entire damn place to the ground. He was the accelerant to burst everything into flames, literally the center of the universe to the wizarding war.

The busy school week had started again and Harry found his eyes mainly glued to the ground, staring at the path to his next class. Snape avoided Harry more now than ever, which Harry surmised to the fact that Snape actually did something that would make Harry smile and Snape couldn't stomach to see that. Harry's history course, Eastern Wizarding Concept, was putting him so far in to a slumber; it took a quick jab from Neville to keep him from snoring out loud. To keep his eyes at the very least open, he pulled out his Marauder's Map and stuffed it in the front of his notebook. Harry scanned the pages, Hermione was easy to spot, sitting on the edge of the courtyard alone, most likely reading. Ron was in the Gryffindor tower; Harry could only imagine what he was doing there at noon. It took a finer skill to find Lia, for Harry looked in all of the obvious places and couldn't a tiny banner with her name on it. Finally, Harry found her pair of feet in no other than Professor Snape's office, which normally Harry wouldn't have thought twice about it. This time, her two feet were rather close to a pair of feet that made Harry's blood boil. Draco Malfoy's feet were sitting parallel to Lia's, so close that nearly their toes were touching. Harry began to fidget in his seat, his pencil almost snapped in half from the tension in his fists. Lia never tutored Draco on Tuesday afternoons, Lia was supposed to be with Fink, she always met with Fink on Tuesdays.

The lecture couldn't end any more quickly than it did, and Harry nearly knocked Neville over as he dashed for the door. Harry didn't have a amiable feeling about what his saw on his map, and having mixed emotions from feeling uncomfortable and dismayed. Not even two steps out of the classroom and Hermione stopped Harry; her cheeks and nose were red, and her eyes seemed to be puffy.

"Harry.." She stood timidly off to the side.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Harry attempted to be as sympathetic as he could while trying to rush to Snape's office.

"Do you mind if I walk with you?" She asked, wiping a tear from her eye.

"I would be delighted." Harry urged for the two of the start walking.

"Harry, I am sorry. I am so sorry. Lia told me that she told you what happened that night."

"It's fine-"

"No Harry, don't just say its fine, because it's not. I should have told you. It was my responsibility to tell you and I didn't. I just, Lia was new and exciting and I was a little drunk and…. It just happened. I just feel terrible about it."

"Hermione, it's okay. Clearly it was just novel idea at the time."

"You don't have to worry about anything, Harry. I wouldn't know what to do without her, but as a friend, and that's all."

"Hermione, I completely trust you. You don't have to explain yourself. Just next time don't be afraid to talk to me, you never have to be scared to talk to me. "

"Good. To be honest, Harry… if you want me to be honest… "

She hesitated.

"I don't know if you heard, but Ginny and Dean broke up… and well, I've been wanting to talk to you about this…."

She paused again.

"Hermione, do you want to go somewhere more private."

He gestured to an open classroom door to the right of them.

"Aren't you in a rush?"

"Yeah, but it can wait. I can tell you're upset, you've been crying." He said, gently pulling her into the classroom.

"Alright, we are alone. Out with it."

"Oh Harry. I've been having such a hard time lately. Lia is doing her best to try and help me through it, but between her tutoring and SI, we only get to see each other at night and-"

"Out with it Hermione!"

"Harry, I've been seeing Ginny."

Harry froze.

"You know how much I love Ron, Harry. I can't deny that. But that night I kissed Lia, I realized how much more I wanted to kiss girls. I left our dorm that night, and went to go to the showers; Ginny was in there. I was finally completely sobered up and started feeling horrible… Ginny helped me shower, and the next thing I knew Ginny was naked against me with my hand between her legs."

"Too much Hermione."

"Sorry details…."

"My brain just twisted so badly after I felt so rejected by Ron that I thought if I cant have him, why not have the next best thing. Ginny and I have been sleeping together, and that's why her and Dean broke up."

"Well, do you have feelings for Ginny?" Harry asked.

"I don't really know. I've always had feelings for her as a friend, but I just am so messed up over Ron… I don't think I like her like that. "

"Does she like you?"

"No not in a romantic matter. Dean just couldn't get the girl off for the life of him."

"Hermione… if you are happy doing what you're doing, then continue it. But I know that you doing this isn't going to make you any closer to who you really want to be with. But I get how lonely you are, and Ginny is a good person."

"It's satisfying for now. A warm body next to me at night is better than sleeping alone too."

"Wow, I feel like I can breathe again."

"Don't ever let your head get to this point, Hermione. You can talk to me about absolutely anything, okay? "

Harry helped her from the desk with a loving hug led the way out of the classroom.

"I just didn't know all of you were so gay." Harry chuckled on the way out.

"You and me both, Harry. " Hermione laughed as she parted ways with Harry.

The tension in him loosened up slightly, but Harry knew that he had to rush to make it Snape's office as quickly as possible. Harry couldn't stop thinking about Hermione and Ginny in the shower, and wondering if his own girlfriend had any encounters with woman past.

Next thing Harry knew he was standing in front of the same rustic wooden door leading into Snape's office. It was slightly cracked, but Harry heard no noise or movement. His fingertips pushed on it lightly and just revealed Lia with her head pointed down her hands moving quickly over a pile of papers.

"Harry!" She nearly yelled, with a smile as wide as the moon on her face.

"Lia… you're alone?"

"Now I am- "

"Don't you usually have tea with Fink on Tuesdays?"

"Yeah, but today Dumbledore and Fink left yesterday and they'll be out of the castle for about a week, so I've been using the free time to catch up on grading for Snape. I swear this man gives more pop quizzes than he even knows how to come up with."

"Was he here earlier?"

"No, but he gave me the charm to open up his door whenever he isn't around. Draco was in here earlier… "

"Why are you asking so many questions?" Lia urged.

"I am just curious. Why was Draco here?"

"I was letting him try and transfigure my hair into snakes. He got them into worms. That boy is never going to pass that class."

"If you're teaching him, there's no way he wont." Harry said, shutting the door behind him.

"Stop trying to flatter me." She said to him, not looking up from her papers.

"Where is Snape now?"

"Snape had to join Dumbledore for the evening to wherever him and Fink are going. Professor McGonagall is going to help me with the evening lesson tonight. Hopefully I wont botch it. " Lia laughed, running her wand over papers making large red marks.

Harry inched closer, his eyes widening by the amount of red marks all over the quizzes.

"Rough quiz, yeah?"

"Fourth years. All about curses. I would think that by my fourth year I would know what The Killing Curse is."

"Ouch."

"I don't blame them. In class, Snape can be intimidating. The man is brilliant, and behind the scenes he is just extraordinary. Quite chatty."

"Snape? Chatty?"

"You don't think so?" Lia asked.

"I cant get more out of Snape than 'Going somewhere, Potter?' or 'Ten points from Gryffindor Potter, for you being an arrogant little brat." Harry impersonated Snape.

"I could see it. But I've done nothing but pick his brain. " She admitted, not looking up from her grading.

Harry inched in front of her, sliding her papers off to the side and pulling her wand from her tense fingers.

"Lia, I haven't seen you all day, and now I apparently wont see you until after your DADA lesson tonight. Why don't you put the papers aside and spend some time with me. "

She stood from Snape's rickety chair and joined Harry at eye level, leaving her papers in a mess on his desk.

"I guess I can take a break." She lightly chuckled, now taking a seat atop Snape's desk.

"Snape would murder me if he knew you were in his office." She laughed again.

"I'm sure he would." Harry said, with his stomach now touching her knees.

"Would you mind having a late dinner with me tonight? After the evening lesson I could head straight to the Great Hall, maybe about 7ish? Is that okay?"

"I don't know, Lia. I am kind of hungry now." Harry pulled his lips into Lia's neck and began to suck on the soft skin.

"Harry, you are crazy." She whispered.

"It's the only time we've had alone. No one knows the charm to open Snape's door, do they?"

"Me and Dumbledore." She bit her lip and began unbuttoning her shirt.

Harry very quickly joined in suit with a jolt of excitement running through his veins. This could only have been in his wildest dreams of getting back at Snape, because Harry knew if Snape even as such found a tiny black hair of Harry's in his office he would be livid. The two shoved the papers off of the desk, and Harry gently lowered Lia's back flat against the surface. Her uniform skirt easily slid down off her ankles, and Harry couldn't wait to remove her teal lace underwear. The thought of him able to pleasure her again in such an intimate way almost made him wild and moments after, his lips were pressed against her bare hip skin. The same taste he seemed to be crazy about had rubbed against his tongue and Lia was attempting to muffle her moans.

It didn't take long for Harry to accomplish his goal, and within minutes he was fully naked, thoroughly enjoying the product of his pleasure as the two began enjoying each other. The desk shook so hard that Harry was afraid the legs were going to snap off, so he decided to take the next position in Snape's chair. Lia followed, and didn't mind to change of pace where she was able to control the amount of pleasure happening. Footsteps were clearly being heard from underneath the cracks of the door and the two realized that passing period had just began, which meant Lia's lesson had less than 20 minutes before it was going to begin. Harry tossed her off of him, and bent her back over Snape's desk, where he was able to climax, along with Lia for a second time.

The two dressed and Harry helped Lia fix herself up before they opened up the office door. Harry looked no more unkempt than usual, so it didn't take long for them to gather their composure. With a quick kiss, the two completely separated, Harry exiting first, then Lia gathering her papers and leaving shortly after.

Harry was able to survive through his afternoon lectures only to find Ron back in the tower, gazing off into the open frozen window looking out onto the quidditch field. Starry eyed, Ron barely even acknowledged Harry's entrance and hummed a singsong tune quietly atop his bed.

"Have a good day, Ron?" Harry asked.

"Perfect. Utterly Perfect." He said through his smiling teeth.

"You alright?"

"I am the best I've ever been, Harry. She's breathtaking. Completely wonderful."

"Had a change of heart for Lavender, have we?"

"Lavender? Heaven's sake no. Romilda. Perfect… beautiful…. Romilda."

"Romilda….." Harry noticed the boxes of opened chocolates that were addressed to him strewn about the floor.

"Ron you-"

"Are the luckiest man alive? I know." He nearly floated.

"Come on, Ron. Let's go."

"Are we going to see her?"

"Yes, of course. Just come with me."

Harry could tell that by the looks of things, Ron was hit with a nasty love potion meant for him. Lia and Hermione were both in evening engagements; so Harry knew the only person to help him would be Slughorn. Ron was hard to manage walking around on cloud nine, so Harry had to hold his forearm and drag him through the Hogwarts hallways.

The large wooden door was sealed up tight, and Harry had to bang on it as loud as he could with a closed fist. Slughorn peered through a peak hole that slid out from the middle of the wood. At first his reaction was to send Harry right away from Harry's persistence lately of trying to pry classified information out of him. Luckily, he saw Ron in the background sighing at the sky and overly red in the face. The door made loud knocks and clicks as Slughorn inched open just enough so his tiny blue wrinkled eye peered out.

"Professor, Ron got into a gnarly batch of love potion and the girls are tied up, you're the only person I could think of that could be talented enough to fix this." Harry half smiled.

"Right you are Harry. Bring him in."

Ron moseyed in behind Harry, still smiling at the imaginary Romilda face suspended in front of him. Slughorn scurried off to his cabinet and started clinking glass sticks against beakers. It didn't take long until Ron was willingly sucking down a pastel purple concoction that brought his smile into a quick frump.

"Wow. What happened?" Ron asked as he plopped down on the floor.

"Romilda Vane happened." Harry laughed and joined him on a paisley colored sofa.

Slughorn joined Harry with a deep amber colored bottle and three glasses he held clinched in his fingers.

"Rosmerta's Mulled Mead, anyone?" Slughorn offered.

Ron snatched a glass so quickly that Slughorn had to almost break the top of the bottle off to pour for him. From the smell, Harry wasn't going to be sipping mulled mead anytime soon, but that didn't stop Ron from gulping his portion in seconds. It sat well and Ron had a content grin as his belly warmed from the mead. Soon that grin completely disappeared and Ron's face turned whiter than a piece of paper. His limbs went limp and his head lost weight as he fell back onto the floor. Every inch of his body began convulsing and white foam began bubbling underneath his lips. Slughorn dropped his glass, shattering it and unable to get his body in motion to sort through his supplies to help Ron. Harry jumped from his seat racking his brain of something to save his friend. It was clear to Harry that Ron had been poisoned, and he flashed through the images of his potions book of something to cure it. Ripping Slughorn's drawers apart, Harry saw it, the bezoar and immediately grabbed it and shoved it down his friend's throat. Ron's convulsions stopped and Slughorn was able to pull himself out of his shocked state to find Madame Pomfrey.