~James' POV~

"I hate full moons," I grumbled as I pulled on clothes, not even really caring what they were.

"Me too," Sirius agreed as he raked his fingers through his hair, which was getting a little on the shaggy side.

Peter was still asleep beneath the covers, oblivious to the world around him.

"Should we wake him?" I asked.

Sirius shook his head and stopped trying to put his left shoe on his right foot. "Nah. He'll wake up eventually and he knows where the kitchens are. Come on; I'm starving."

"Quick stop at the kitchens," I said as we headed for the door. "And then we'll drop by the hospital wing to see Moony."

"Agreed."

We descended the stairs and walked through the common room, ignoring all stares. Then, we left and headed for the kitchens, both of us still extremely groggy.

"I wonder how Jen is," I commented.

Sirius shrugged. "No clue. I don't remember much from last night, to be honest. Seems a good sleep erases memories better than firewhiskey."

"Feels like it," I said as I took my glasses off so that I could rub my eyes.

"But we would remember if she'd gotten hurt."

I nodded. "We wouldn't have gone to sleep if she had been."

"Exactly."

We made it to the kitchens and the house elves approached us at once, begging to take our orders. I looked over to see that Sirius was grinning just like I was. He had a house elf at home named Kreacher, but he always told me that Kreacher was the worst living thing on the planet. Like Sirius' parents, Kreacher much preferred Regulus. Sirius, on the other hand, despised his younger brother. He despised anyone that agreed with his parents' philosophies.

"I'll have a few bacon sandwiches," I told the house elf nearest me, and it ran off to get me some.

"Pastries," Sirius said. "Blueberry, please."

Another house elf gave us two glasses filled with pumpkin juice and we eagerly drank until our food was prepared. After we got our food, we thanked them and then brushed off their offers to get us more food.

Sirius laughed once we were outside. "Always eager."

"It almost makes me want to cry," I agreed before I bit into a sandwich. Once I'd chewed and swallowed, I said, "And Jen wants to cry too, but for a different reason."

Sirius nodded. "She seriously thinks that they're mistreated here. Dumbledore offers them pay and vacation, doesn't he?"

"He does, but they don't take it." I took another bite. "She's just really sympathetic to all creatures, no matter what the situation."

He swallowed a pastry whole. "If she could meet Kreacher, she wouldn't think that way. He's vile; she would hate him."

"Maybe they should be introduced." I finished off one sandwich and moved to the next. "Are we heading back to the dorm?"

He shrugged. "I guess so. I was following you."

"Great," I mumbled. "I was following you."

"We should take turns being the leader," he suggested as we turned to alter our course. "It would settle all of this confusion."

"Or maybe we should just agree on where we're going before we take off."

"That would work too."

I was about to comment, but a voice said, "James!"

I finished off my sandwich and wiped my mouth off with the napkin before I turned to see Hale Jacobs walking towards me. "What's he want?" I muttered.

"Guess you'll find out," Sirius said and continued to nibble on a pastry.

"Hey," Hale smiled politely as he approached and stopped a few feet in front of me. "I was going to talk to you at breakfast, but you didn't come down."

"What's up?" I asked politely, just wanting to be back in my bed.

Hale let out a breath and rubbed the back of his neck. "The thing is, the next Hogsmeade weekend is coming up and I-"

"He's taken," Sirius said. "He always goes to Hogsmeade with me. Haven't you noticed?"

Hale blushed. "I was actually going to ask if I could take your sister."

If I'd had any sandwiches left, I would have dropped them right on the floor. "You want to ask Jen to Hogsmeade?"

"I thought I'd ask you first," he said. "I would never do anything inappropriate or-"

Sirius began to laugh. "Mate, James has no control over-"

"Can it," I said and kicked him. I looked back at Hale. "You know what, normally, I would say no. But, you were very polite about it and you're a prefect so…" I thought for a moment. "Okay. But, there are rules."

Hale nodded solemnly. "Such as?"

I ticked them off on my fingers as I said them. "She has to be back in the castle early; she has a performance that night with the choir. You will not hold her hand or put your arm around her for any reason, I don't care if she's in danger of falling on her arse. You will be polite and cordial at all times; if I hear that you were rude, you won't like what you get."

"And no snogging," Sirius put in.

I pointed at Sirius. "That rule goes quadruple."

Hale smiled. "Okay; I can handle that."

"I'm serious," I told him. "Wipe that smile off your face. No smiling."

"Is that a rule for the date, too?" he asked, confused.

I pointed a finger at him. "Don't push it, kid. Get outta here."

He obediently turned and walked away and I watched him for a moment before I did the same. "Hmm…"

"Jen could do worse," Sirius pointed out. "And she has. She dated Ernie, remember?"

I shuddered. "Yeah, I remember that."

"And at least he came and asked your permission," he put in as he finished his last pastry and used his wand to vanish the napkin. "How many blokes do you know that would do that?"

"Not many," I conceded and then sighed. "You're right; he's as good a guy as any. But he'll never be good enough for Jen."

Sirius shot me a smile. "No guy ever will."

~Jen's POV~

"I still can't get it," Kendra grumbled as she untangled the braid.

I patted her arm. "Stick with magic."

"I don't know the spell."

"I'll write it down," I told her and climbed off of her bed to grab my bag.

"Where are you going?" Beth asked, looking up from her Astronomy chart.

I hefted the bag onto my shoulder and let out a sigh. "The library. I really need to get some sources for the Arithmancy essay that I have to do."

My roommates all shuddered.

"Good luck," Beth told me.

"Glad I'm not you," Kendra put in.

"Totally," Emma and Cassie said at the same time, not even looking up from their nails.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll see you guys for dinner."

"Bye."

"See ya."

I made it out of the common room without too much trouble and then headed in the direction of the library, hoping that it would be quiet. Madame Prince did a very good job of getting people to be quiet, but sometimes, there were teachers that would come in and talk to each other in loud, annoying voices. And Madame Prince could do nothing to stop that.

But, if it got too unbearably loud, she always let me use her office to study. She had taken a liking to me in my first year and since then, she'd always been eager to do anything that she could for me. One time, she'd even let me get a book out of the Restricted Section without a teacher's signature.

But when I walked into the library, it was nice and quiet and I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe the silence would last for the next few hours.

"Miss Potter."

I turned to see Madame Prince smiling at me and I smiled back at her. "Good evening, Madame Prince."

"Are you going to need help finding anything today?"

"Not today," I told her. "I think I've got this pretty well handled. But I appreciate it."

She nodded and beamed. "Of course, of course. And if you need any help, you just let me know."

"I will," I said and headed off to my usual table, which was in a back corner where hardly anyone ever wandered. (Except for Sirius once during one of his "conquests" with a girl. They were on the table when I found them and, well…. I try not to think about it. But, needless to say, I checked out a book on cleaning spells and used many of them on that table.) I set everything out of my bag that I needed and then moved to go and find the books that I would be needing.

I found the first two no problem and set them down at the table on my way to find the third. But, after a long search, it was nowhere to be found. Frowning, I spun around and looked at the opposite shelf. "It has to be here somewhere," I muttered. "How hard can it be to find Powers You Never Knew You Had and What to Do with Them Now You've Wised Up? That's a huge title; it can't be that hard to spot."

"It's right here."

I jumped and turned to see Regulus Black holding up the book.

Merlin, why do I keep running into him?

He gestured to the empty spot that he must have taken the book from. "It was right here."

I reached for it slowly. "Thanks…"

He gave me a half smile that almost looked like his brother's. "Apparently, my statement about me not hurting you wasn't one that you took to heart."

Embarrassed, I reached out more confidently and grabbed the book. "I'm sorry. Thank you."

He nodded his head and took a step back. "I'll leave you alone, since you seem much more comfortable when I'm not around."

I opened my mouth to retort, but he was already walking away.

He's been watching me?

But oddly, it didn't creep me out.