A/N: Here's your weekly update!

-C

Fabian and Anissa were canoodling, and Sanna tried not to laugh as Fabian – with his arms wrapped around Anissa, his lips caressing her ear – told the girls to be prepared for anything the following day.

He was referring to Valentine's Day, the first double date Sanna had agreed to, under much duress, and both Prewetts were insisting it would be worth her while for agreeing.

"Best Saturday of your life, I guarantee it," he teased.

"I hope not," Sanna said, sitting back with a smirk and watching her best friend giggle at his tickling her ear. "I'd like to think my best days are far in my future."

Fabian tilted his head inward and said, "An admirable sentiment, to be sure. I mean more your best Saturday at Hogwarts, and as those are nearly done, I hope you'll indulge me."

Sanna just shrugged and sat back, trying to focus on her Transfiguration project while those two were being so absurd. It was nearly impossible, but she had to admit, they were desperately in love. She wondered if she and Remus had looked like that, ever, in the early days when he was always flushed with pride and shame, and she was always sitting on his lap and taking every advantage to coax him into kisses.

She pushed aside the thought and glanced down at her work, tapping her quill on her finger as she considered what to do next. She needed to deal with Sirius on this, but she knew – and she wasn't supposed to know – he was helping Gideon get ready for the date tomorrow, so the dormitory was off-limits. She didn't know what there was to get ready, but that was fine. Girls liked their methods to be a mystery, as well.

"You know that could wait," Anissa said, frowning as Sanna tried to focus. "It's not due until NEWTs. We've got months yet."

"Yes," Sanna sighed, rubbing her eyes. "But it's so tempting to keep putting it off, and if I don't push myself to do it, we'll be sitting in May and I'll be wondering where the last two years went and how I managed to accomplish so little. Besides, I'll need Sirius's help, soon, and I want to be sure I've got everything lined up properly before I take up his time."

"Like he cares," Anissa teased. "He doesn't need to work, anymore. What does he care about his grades?"

Sanna smiled, thinking of how eager Sirius was to find a time to show off his new place, and she said, "It's more a matter of pride, I think, than anything else. He does have his reputation of brilliance to protect. And anyway, he doesn't need to revise. He's too brilliant to need to revise. At least, that's his story. It's more about being lazy, you know."

Fabian snorted and kissed Anissa's neck. He'd know almost as well as Sanna, of course. He had to live with Sirius many months of the year.

"Tomorrow," Fabian warned, "no work. Maybe we should let her get down to it now, darling, so she can be a little less distracted while we have our fabulous date."

Sanna rolled her eyes, but she appreciated his thoughtfulness, and said so as he led Anissa away from her table. Sanna rubbed her eyes, focusing in on her work for a few long minutes before she was once again joined by someone. She was about to look up and tell them to sod off so she could work, but when she saw it was James she just sighed.

"You looked lonely," he teased, although she knew he was still nervous about leaving her alone after what happened with Mary. "Transfiguration?"

"Yeah," she said, rubbing her eyes. "I wanted to talk about it with Sirius, but he's busy. He doesn't think I know, but I certainly know I'm not to disturb him."

James hummed, looking down at her calculations and attempted spell adaptations and said, "Well, maybe I could help. I'm not Sirius, but Transfiguration is my best subject. And I'm not exactly a slouch."

"Have you ever even opened a book, Potter?" she teased.

"Oh, sure," he said back with a wink. "Had to open a book or two to figure out how to make the map, after all. Well, I opened a few to see what they were about. Then Remus did the reading."

Sanna laughed, but he turned her work around to get a better look, and they started discussing the premise of her work, and she found it was clarifying to talk with someone other than Sirius about it. Just articulating her thoughts helped her sift through some of the fuzziness in her approach, and James was full of helpful tidbits about altering spells. He'd never built a spell from scratch – which was what she was attempting to do – but he was very good at alteration problem-solving, which was the stage she was at, and he managed to give her a lot of good diagnostic ideas he'd developed just in the line of Marauding.

"This is great stuff," she sighed, setting down her quill as he checked his watch. "I think this is going to get me through the next month or so before I have another roadblock. At least, I hope it lasts me that long."

"Hey, whatever keeps your head focused on the Quidditch pitch," he half-teased. They then discussed strategy for the rest of the season, although Sanna had no doubts they would win the Cup. With the brutality of their defeat of Ravenclaw, and Ravenclaw's sound defeats of the other competition, not to mention Gryffindor's long-running undefeated record, she just couldn't see the numbers lining up for them to lose.

She thanked James again, went to bed, and told herself the date would be a nice distraction from her many responsibilities and obligations. She might even wear pink lipstick, if she was feeling well enough in the morning. It would mean so much to Anissa, after all.

Sanna did get dressed, putting on a pair of jeans and a nice sweater, straightening her pale hair, dabbing a bit of the pink lipstick on, but not enough for it to be obvious she was wearing it. Enough to appease her friend, however. The girls went down to breakfast, and they started piling on the food so they didn't have to eat too much on the date when the boys began to swarm around them, minus one significant person.

"Where's Gideon?" she asked, frowning as Fabian and Sirius and James sat around the pair of girls.

Fabian gave her a weak smile and said, "Yeah, bad news, Sanna. Gid's sick. Took pretty ill in the night. Madam Pomfrey basically said he's not to leave the infirmary until breakfast Monday, at the earliest."

"Ah," Sanna said, rubbing her jaw. "Right, then."

"Oh, no," Anissa said, setting down her fork. "Sanna, you should come with us anyway! I can't stand the thought of you being alone on Valentine's Day!"

"No, absolutely not," Sanna said firmly. "As if this lot would let me have five minutes alone, anyway. I'm not going to be where I'm not wanted. You have your date, lovebirds."

Anissa clearly didn't want this to be the solution, but she couldn't argue with a day alone with Fabian, really. So, those two made their way off, and Sirius insisted they go off grounds.

"I've got so much work to do," she whined when he told her to bundle up and come with him.

"Bring it with you," he said with a cryptic wink, and she gave in to her curiosity, packing up her most crucial work and slipping it into her rucksack, walking down to the village with him.

"Right, this way," he said, leading her around an alleyway, taking her hand. She asked where they were going, but he paused, grinned, and said, "Just relax, and don't let go."

The Disapparating happened before she could protest, and she was surprised when they were standing on the grounds of a rather isolated little cottage, seemingly somewhere in the countryside, a bit overgrown but moderately attractive.

"Is this your place?" she asked breathlessly, and he pulled her in, grinning, unlocking the door and leading her into an entryway, through to a tiny but functional kitchen. "Sirius, this place is adorable."

"More importantly," he said, taking both her hands, "is it's mine. C'mon, let's make some tea and have a look at your work so we can enjoy ourselves this afternoon."

Sanna couldn't argue with that, so she put the kettle on and he tried to find two relatively clean cups for them to drink out of. He'd stocked up on the essentials – tea, powered broth, frozen vegetables – but the kitchen was mostly bare, and he didn't have any milk or sugar on offer, which suited Sanna fine.

They curled up on the threadbare sofa and pulled out her work, which they were able to go over in the span of a few hours. James showed up as they were wrapping up, with some takeout curry and some booze she couldn't read the labels of. The boys went to the kitchen to prep the food and came back.

"Don't mind me," James said with a wink. "I'm just here for lunch while Peter and Remus do serious things. You know how they are about not failing. Apparently, that's important."

Sanna rolled her eyes, leaning her back to Sirius's arm as she ate her lunch, taking the bite of naan he broke off for her into her mouth and shoving a fork into the rice and shrimp and sauce, wondering why James hadn't had the sense to bring spoons. Come to that, she wondered why Sirius didn't have any spoons, as this was his house. She supposed she knew what to get him for his birthday. Or a graduation gift.

Once James left, Sirius took Sanna upstairs and showed her the rest of the tiny house, and she laughed at the tiny bed, laying down on it, kicking off her shoes.

"Your lips look funny," he said to ignore her teasing at how small the bed was.

"It's my lipstick," she said, closing her eyes. She knew he was wrinkling his nose.

"I don't like it," he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his head on her chest. "It's not what you usually wear."

"I'm not a fan, either, but Anissa loves it, so I thought I'd wear it for her. The double dating thing is really more about her than anyone else."

Sirius hummed, the vibration shooting through her torso from where he was using her breasts as a pillow. It was gratifying to know Sirius agreed with her on the beige lipstick, to know at least one of her best friends shared her concept of beauty and fashion. Even if it was Sirius.

They stayed on his bed, talking and drinking and laughing all day, but Sanna didn't feel her afternoon was wasted as she might have, had the date gone poorly. She didn't feel any obligation to do her work when she and Sirius had time alone the way she did in larger groups where the attention wasn't just between two people.

They fell asleep and slept straight through dinner, waking in the middle of the night, close to two in the morning. She woke with Sirius's arms around her, his face pressed into her neck, his breath tickling her skin. She sighed, stretching slightly as she tried to remember where she was and why. She glanced at her watch and swore when she realized what time it was.

"Bug," Sirius murmured against her skin, sleepy, barely awake. "You're soft."

She laughed and touched his hair, silky against her fingers.

"So are you, silly," she said. "But we've got to get back to the school. We're already well past late getting back."

He groaned, rolling over and checking his watch.

"Damn," he sighed. "Well, if we're already this late, I can call James, tell him why we're not back. He can cover and we can sleep here."

Sanna was too exhausted to argue, so she hummed and she rolled over as Sirius retreated to use the toilet and make his call. She hardly noticed when he crawled back to bed beside her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him, pressing his face to the back of her neck. He murmured something she didn't hear or process properly, but they managed to wake up with enough time to sneak in through a passage under Honeydukes and get back before breakfast. Sirius could go straight to the Great Hall, but Sanna kissed his cheek and said she'd go change and shower and she'd be back. He hadn't been keen on letting her go, but he had the map in case something happened to her.

She was about halfway up the second-story stairs when a hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a nearby alcove. At first, she thought it was Snape, but she could see Mulciber's face right in hers far too quickly. She tried to pull away, but he grabbed her other wrist, and she was trapped. Sanna comforted herself mildly in that he couldn't hold his wand if he was holding her like this, but she didn't allow herself to relax.

"What do you want?" she said, attempting to wriggle free.

"I saw you coming in with Black," Mulciber said, his eyes glittering. "Sneaking in while your…boyfriend is in the infirmary. I simply want what is due to me, what you seem to be passing around to everyone else."

"Whatever you think you know about me," she snarled, "you know nothing."

He smirked, leaning closer. Sanna squirmed, trying to move away, but he had a very strong grip on her arms. She grunted with frustration, but Mulciber was completely unmoved. She was only grateful they were in a relatively open place, and the worst he could do was kiss or maybe feel her up.

Just before he was about to force his lips onto hers, Mulciber yelped in pain and was jolted halfway across the corridor. Sanna was yanked forward slightly, but she managed to regain her balance and pull out her wand, ready to stop Sirius if she had to.

But it was James, there, wand out, eyes burning with anger. She took a deep breath, stepping to the side, trying to decide what to do, or whether to do anything. James's nostrils were flared, and he spoke before Mulciber's hand could be shoved into his pocket for his wand.

"I'd think carefully if I were you, Mulciber," James said in a firm, authoritative voice. "I'm already reporting this to your Head of House, and the Headmaster. This could be a reprimand or it could be something more serious. Your choice."

Mulciber's eyes traced back and forth between James and Sanna, then back again, and he retreated, not turning his back until he'd turned the corner at the end of the corridor.

"What the bloody hell were you thinking?" James asked, his voice tight. "Wandering off by yourself like that?"

"M'fine," she said, rubbing her neck. "I had to change."

"You could just as easily not be fine," James snapped. "I've promised Lily and Sirius and Gideon I'd keep you safe, and I'm not about to let you be an idiot and get injured, especially during the Quidditch season."

She exhaled, mildly relieved he'd mentioned Quidditch, because he was sounding way too responsible to be healthy.

"I suppose you're right," she said, smiling and touching his arm. "C'mon, James. I still need to change. Can we not tell Sirius this ever happened?"

He sighed, leading her up to the stairwell.

"Sanna, Sirius has the map. He called me because he saw I could get there quicker. I'm afraid you're on your own for that one, but that doesn't mean you have the right to walk around by yourself and give us all some chaos and crisis."

She sighed, knowing this was only going to tighten the leash they had her on. Although, between Gideon and Sirius and James, she figured she had a fairly pleasant leash. Sanna didn't argue with James all the way up to the tower, where she snuck up to her dormitory, took a quick shower, and hurried out to change.

Lily startled her, raising her eyebrows and leaning on Sanna's bedpost as Sanna changed into a pair of jeans and a wine-colored jumper.

"You never came back last night," Lily said sternly. "James said not to worry, but you know that's not good enough. Where were you?"

Sanna didn't bother teasing her friend about using James's first name. Instead, she sighed, rubbed her forehead, and said, "Sirius was showing me his new place. We fell asleep. We came back this morning. It's perfectly safe, perfectly appropriate."

"Will your new boyfriend think so?" Sanna clicked her tongue, but Lily wasn't letting go. "I'm not kidding, Sanna. Remus would have let you get away with murder, and you and Sirius together would have been impossible for him to say no to, even as innocent as you all seem to think this is. Gideon has…. Well, I hate to say, but Gideon's got a bit more self-respect. He may not be so understanding."

They'd had this discussion three times since Gideon asked Sanna out, but Sanna still didn't see what the fuss was. It wasn't as though anything had changed in her dynamic with Sirius since she started dating Gideon. There was no reason for him not to expect this sort of behavior from her now they were together.

"You worry too much," Sanna said, tapping Lily's nose condescendingly and skipping out of the dormitory, down the stairs to where James was pacing, waiting for her.

He'd obviously made a report to Sirius, but she ignored asking what the conversation was like. Instead, she asked if they could stop at the infirmary on the way down, and James smiled, softening and nodding as they exited through the portrait hole.

A/N: So, James helps Sanna study, Sirius shows off his new digs, and Mulciber tries his luck and fails.

Review Prompt: Should Gideon be worried, and is he?

Q&A:

Q: Are you still planning on making this 60 chapters with a sequel? (J)

A: Yes! 57 chapters with an 81 chapter sequel.

Cheers!

C