March 5, 1994

Sirius set a tea kettle down on the long kitchen table and pulled biscuits from the oven. He smiled to himself, amused at thinking about how his mother would feel if she knew someone had installed a muggle oven in her kitchen. Glancing up at his clock, he saw there was still about fifteen minutes before the Order meeting was scheduled to start. He pulled some small plates out and set them on the table.

He heard the floo roar to life and a minute later Snape walked through the kitchen door.

"Good morning, Severus," Sirius tried to say pleasantly, yet there was still a hint of disdain in his voice.

"Likewise," Snape said dully.

"Have some tea and biscuits," Sirius offered, turning back to the cabinet to pull teacups out.

Snape looked at the biscuits for a moment, then looked at Sirius and raised an eyebrow. "Are they normal biscuits or is it your intent to poison me?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Do you poison Remus each month?" he asked sarcastically.

Snape gave a soft hum, but he helped himself to a cup of tea.

Sirius sat down. The two sat in awkward silence for a few moments before he decided to speak.

"Look Severus, I know you and I are probably never going to be friends, but I want you to know that I am sorry about that stunt I pulled sixth year. I was wrong, and I could've gotten you killed and Remus executed. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I hope you will accept my apology and that we can work together successfully for the Order." There, he had said it.

Snape stared at him for a long time. Sirius was sure the man was not going to respond, but finally he answered. "Apology accepted."

Sirius let out a long breath. "Thank you," he nodded towards Snape.

After another awkward silence, Snape spoke up again. "I must admit Black that when I heard you would be taking custody of the Potter boy, I believed he would become even more unruly and undisciplined than he already was. But remarkably his behavior has improved this year. He pays attention in class and completes his assignments at a satisfactory level. Although I would like to find another reason, I can see no other cause for such a drastic change than your presence in his life."

Sirius was floored. He was sure he was dreaming. There was no way those words just came out of the mouth of Sniv...Severus Snape. "Thank you," is all he could say. Then, before he could stop himself added, "Harry wasn't unruly."

Snape sneered but before he could respond the floo chimed again, and Remus walked in with Dumbledore not far behind him. The Weasleys showed up not long after that and then, finally, Amelia Bones, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Alastor Moody. Once everyone was seated, Amelia began the meeting.

"Thank you all for coming. As most of you are aware, aurors were sent last Sunday to Little Hangleton to search for the body of Lord Voldemort based on information provided by Peter Pettigrew. We went exactly where Pettigrew said he was supposed to be. Unfortunately there was no sign of him anywhere. Naturally, my first reaction was to believe Pettigrew had lied to us. I did not use truth serum in our first interview because he talked so willingly, but when I went back, I took veritaserum." She took a deep breath. "Unfortunately, I was wrong. Pettigrew gave us the same answers as before. So either Pettigrew is powerful enough to overcome the veritaserum or…" she paused, not completely willing to speak the words out loud.

"Voldemort has help from someone else," Moody finished for her.

"Precisely," she responded solemnly.

Arthur Weasley looked at Remus and Sirius. "Do you believe Peter would be powerful enough to lie, even under the truth serum?"

Remus looked thoughtful while Sirius shrugged. "To be honest, I never would have thought he was powerful enough to pull off half of what he already has. I'd like to think he isn't, but I really don't know," Sirius explained.

"He certainly wasn't that talented in our school days, or if he was, he didn't show it," Remus added.

"Does Peter have any connection to the house he sent you to?" Arthur asked.

Amelia cleared her throat. "No, not Peter. No one lives in the house now, but the old gardener for the family lives on the grounds. He said the house belonged to a Thomas Riddle."

There was an audible intake of breath in the room.

"Was it Voldemort's childhood home?" Remus asked.

Dumbledore shook his head, "No, Tom grew up in a muggle orphanage. I visited him there once before he came to Hogwarts." He shifted in his seat before adding, "Although, I believe we may have found the home of his biological father."

Amelia nodded. "It's too much of a coincidence. I believe that Peter told us the truth, that he was keeping Voldemort's...whatever he is...at the Riddle house, but that when Peter was arrested, his other servant got spooked and moved him."

"Did you ask Peter if there was anyone else helping him?" Sirius questioned.

Amelia nodded. "I did. He said there wasn't. It was just him. So, somehow, somebody got word of where they were, got word of Pettigrew's arrest, and then found Voldemort and took off." She shook her head. "They always seem to be just one damn step ahead of us."

Sirius shifted. "So far, three horcruxes have been destroyed. Is it possible Voldemort is just dead?"

Amelia bit the inside of her cheek before responding. "I suppose it's possible, but we are pretty certain he made at least one more. And we didn't find his body. If he is dead, somebody would still have to move it." She sighed. "I'd feel a lot better if I knew how many blasted horcruxes he made."

The room was quiet for a few minutes. Remus thought over what had been said. Leaning forward in his seat, he addressed Dumbledore. "Albus, if Tom grew up in an orphanage, how did he learn about horcruxes? I mean, Sirius knew about them because the Blacks taught him, but his knowledge is still quite limited, and it certainly isn't in the Hogwarts curriculum at any level. How would he know about them?"

Dumbledore looked solemn. "It certainly is not, and never has been. However, the information would have been available in the library. It wasn't until I became headmaster that books containing such dark magic were removed."

"But surely it would have been in the restricted section. He would have needed a teacher's permission to access it. Do you know of any of his professors that might be able to give us any insight?" Remus continued.

Dumbledore thought about Remus's words. "I know of one. I doubt he would be willing to tell us much, but I will contact him. Actually," he turned his attention to Sirius, "he may be more willing to talk to Harry."

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "And why is that?"

Dumbledore smiled. "It's Horace Slughorn," he stated matter-of-factly.

There was a soft chuckle from around the room. "Yeah I'm sure he would like to talk to Harry. But try to get him to talk to you first. You know how Harry hates when people treat him like a celebrity," Sirius answered.

Dumbledore nodded.

March 8, 1994

Harry dropped off all of his things except his textbook for Ancient Runes in his dorm and headed for the DADA office to meet Sirius. Anxious to see him and talk about the Order meeting, he wasn't paying much attention to the people around him. That is, until he passed a window and heard, "Hi Harry," in a soft voice. He turned quickly to see Cho Chang sitting on the windowsill and smiling at him.

"Hi," he said awkwardly.

They both stared at each other for a moment before Cho continued. "I guess I should tell you congratulations. You were awesome in the last quidditch match. I really hope Gryffindor beats Slytherin."

Harry almost didn't register the compliment, too caught up in looking at Cho. He thought she was absolutely beautiful. "Oh, well thanks. You're a brilliant flyer yourself."

"Thanks," she said smiling. "How do you like Runes?" she asked, pointing to his book.

Harry looked at the book in his hand as if he didn't realize he was holding it. "Oh, I- I like it I guess. Much better than divinations." Harry felt as if he couldn't remember half of the words he knew.

"Yeah, Professor Babbling is pretty great too. She makes it very interesting," Cho responded. They both stood quietly for a moment before Cho continued. "Do you have an exam Friday too?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, we do."

Cho smiled. "Maybe we could study together," she offered.

Harry smiled. "I'd like that," he shifted awkwardly. "Umm, when?"

Cho thought it over. "I'm free tomorrow after dinner. Want to meet at the library?"

Harry couldn't believe his ears. "Uh, yeah. That sounds great." He knew he should probably say goodbye and walk away, but his feet seem to be permanently planted on the floor under him.

Cho smiled, "Great. So, um, where were you going? You seemed to be in a hurry."

Harry snapped out of his daze. "Oh, I have to meet Sirius." He looked at his watch. 4:43 "Damn it. Sorry Cho, I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow." He gave her a quick smile as he turned away.

She waved to him, "See you tomorrow."

Harry ran the rest of the way to Remus's office. Sirius was standing in the door looking for him.

"Harry! Where have you been? You're going to be late," Sirius scolded.

"Sorry, I was talking to someone and lost track of time. Can you tell me about the Order meeting before I go?" Harry responded hurriedly.

Sirius shook his head, "No, you're already late. Go ahead. Healer Williams will be waiting for you. Floo right back here afterwards and we'll discuss it."

Harry wanted to protest, but he nodded and headed to the floo. Sirius threw himself into a chair in front of Remus. "Can you believe that kid?" he asked incredulously. He looked over at Remus to see the man smirking.

"What is it, Moony?"

Remus chuckled and folded up the Marauder's Map. "Well first of all, given who his father and godfather are, yes, I can believe him. But second, when Harry was late I pulled out the map and happened to see who Harry was caught up talking to."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Do I know this person?"

Remus shook his head, "No, I don't think you do. But she is the seeker for Ravenclaw, a fourth year, and, according to what I overhear just about every time she and her group of friends are in my class, thinks Harry is just 'dreamy.'"

Sirius smiled brightly and propped his feet up on a desk. "Oh, I can't wait to tease him for this."

March 24, 1994

Sirius Black walked proudly through the Ministry of Magic. He was used to women looking at him wherever he went, but a long prison stay seemed to increase his appeal to the women around him while simultaneously making the men around him cower. He chuckled to himself. He had never actually murdered anyone, yet people acted as if he was the most notorious criminal of all time happily strutting through the ministry.

He had just finished up a successful meeting when he turned the corner. His first reaction was to growl, but instead he plastered a fake smile on his face.

"Lucy!" he said pleasantly.

"Don't call me that, Black," Lucius Malfoy snarled back. "What are you doing here? Something for your Golden Boy I presume."

Sirius shook his head. "Not mine. Yours actually. I hated the idea of young Draco having the death of a hippogriff on his conscience, so I've just left a meeting with the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. They didn't seem to realize that your son had provoked said hippogriff, and that his injuries had been healed rather easily. Funny that wasn't reported to them. A simple oversight, I'm sure." He watched as the color drained from Lucius's face. "Oh yes, Lucius, you should teach your son not to brag about such things in class. That evidence can be used against him. Anyway, they're granting Buckbeak a new trial, and I'll be here to represent not only him, but the board of governors for Hogwarts as well. Anything you'd like me to add on your behalf? Oh wait, you're not on the Board anymore are you?"

The color quickly returned to Lucius's face by the last sentence. "Watch yourself, Black. I may have left the Board of Governors…"

"You mean you were kicked off…"

Lucius continued as if not interrupted, "but I still have plenty of influence in this ministry. You do not want me as your enemy."

Sirius chuckled, "Lucy, we've been enemies since you gave your allegiance to Tom Riddle. Don't even try to deny it. You may have fooled the Wizengamot once, but if you do anything this time around that brings harm to my son…"

"You mean your ward."

Sirius's voice became icy. "I mean my SON, I will personally destroy you and your entire family. I'm sure you remember vividly what happened the last time you and I fought. I know you don't want to repeat it."

Lucius gave a simple hum and walked away.

….

To Harry's immense satisfaction, Sirius did not lecture him about keeping himself safe, even given the information about someone else helping Voldemort. He did tell the boy to let him know of anything suspicious and to try to not be alone, but otherwise didn't say much. Sirius knew he probably should be more strict with Harry, but Peter was in Azkaban, and if there was someone else helping Voldemort, they had done absolutely nothing to get the attention of the DMLE or the Order.

Ron slammed his Transfigurations book. "This is boring," he complained.

Harry looked up from his studying. He had to agree.

"We have final exams coming up, Ronald," Hermione reminded him, annoyed.

"Our exams aren't for two more months, Hermione." He turned back to Harry. "Why aren't you doing your defense lessons tonight?" Ron asked him.

"Professor Lupin isn't feeling well," Harry responded. The full moon was three days away and Remus had apologized and told him that he was feeling particularly tired this moon cycle.

"He's sick a lot," Ron observed. "Do you know what's wrong with him?" he asked Harry.

Harry was about to lie when Hermione rolled her eyes and answered, "Isn't it obvious?"

"If it's obvious, why don't you just tell us?" Ron answered back.

Hermione looked at Harry, who gave a quick shake of his head. "Never mind. Do you want me to quiz you in Astronomy?" she responded.

Ron groaned. "No, I'm tired of studying. Let's do something fun."

Harry put down his quill. He was pretty used to arranging his studying so that he could have Thursday evenings to spend with Remus, so he wasn't going to get too far behind by taking the evening off. "I'm in. What do you want to do?"

"Game of chess?" Ron asked.

"So you can kick my arse again? No thanks," Harry responded, laughing.

"Let's go see Hagrid!' Ron suggested. "We haven't been down to visit him in ages."

"It's almost curfew," Hermione answered. She had already returned to her homework.

Harry shrugged. "We can use my cloak."

Hermione looked up. "You shouldn't be outside the castle, Harry."

Harry frowned. "Why not? They caught Pettigrew. Come on Hermione, Hagrid seemed off in class today. He'll be happy to see us."

Hermione huffed, but she muttered, "Fine," and went with the two boys. Harry ran upstairs quickly to retrieve his invisibility cloak, then the three of them ventured to Hagrid's hut. They knocked on the door, still under the cloak, but pulled it off to reveal their heads as soon as Hagrid opened it. Hagrid looked at them without speaking until they heard a voice call from behind him. "Who is it, Hagrid?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione's eyes went wide as they threw the cloak back over themselves.

"Oh, it's nobody. Must've been the wind," Hagrid answered suspiciously.

"The wind knocked on the door?" Sirius answered skeptically, coming to stand beside Hagrid and look outside.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione held their breath, all three frozen in place.

Sirius looked around, his wand drawn. "Are you sure Hagrid? I could have sworn we heard knocking." He went to walk out the door. Harry, Ron, and Hermione moved so quickly, they became tangled in one another and fell down Hagrid's front steps, the cloak flying off all three of them.

Sirius crossed his arms and looked down with a raised eyebrow.

Harry adjusted his glasses and looked up sheepishly. "Hi Sirius."

Sirius smiled. "Are you three ok?"

All three teenagers nodded, looking nervous.

Sirius waved his hand, gesturing for them to stand up. "Why don't you three come inside before anyone sees you."

As the three of them pulled themselves up off the ground, Harry dared to ask, "What are you doing here?"

Sirius poured the three of them tea as they took their seats at Hagrid's table. "I should ask you the same thing," he answered, winking at Harry. "I had a meeting at the Ministry today, in which I secured Buckbeak a new trial. I was just here discussing his defense with Hagrid."

Hermione beamed, "Sirius, that's wonderful!"

The five of them drank their tea together as Sirius told them about his meeting with the Ministry and explained what they would be doing for Hagrid's defense. Hagrid showed them a baby Niffler they would be learning about in their next class, and after about an hour, they decided they should head back to the castle.

"Why don't you walk Ron and Hermione back, Hagrid? I'd like to speak with Harry for a moment," Sirius said.

Harry swallowed nervously. Sirius didn't seem angry, but he braced himself for a blistering lecture on safety anyway. Sirius sat back down at the table once the other three had left.

"Are you mad?" Harry asked him.

Sirius looked at him over his teacup and smiled. "No, Harry, I'm not. But I do want you to be careful. We don't have much to be worried about right now, but that could always change."

Harry nodded in acceptance.

"I would prefer," Sirius continued, "if you followed the school rules and kept yourself out of trouble, but I'm ok with school mischief having school consequences, so long as you're not putting your life in danger. I wouldn't count walking down to Hagrid's before curfew with two people and under the cloak as putting your life in danger now that Peter is locked up. But, if you have any suspicions, any at all, I need you to be extra careful ok? And tell me about them."

Harry nodded again. "Yes, sir. I will." He shifted slightly. "Wood caught me today. You know the final quidditch match is in three weeks. He wants to start practicing every evening starting next week."

Sirius frowned. "I'd really like to see you on Tuesdays. Can you miss?"

Harry bit his bottom lip. "I like seeing you too, but the team needs me."

Sirius inclined his head. "Well ok, we can still do a really quick dinner after you see Healer Williams, right?"

Harry nodded. "Right."

Sirius continued, "You're coming home for the Easter holiday next weekend. I was thinking we could maybe take a trip."

"A trip?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, maybe go to the beach. Have you been?"

Harry shook his head. "Never. That sounds brilliant."

Sirius smiled. "Then we will do that. Should it be just the two of us, or do you want to invite Remus and maybe Ron too?"

Harry thought it over. "Can it be just the two of us?"

Sirius smiled warmly. "It certainly can, pup."

They sat together in comfortable silence for a few moments before Harry thought of something. "If I ask you a question, do you promise not to tease me mercilessly?" he asked.

Sirius placed a hand over his heart, pretending to be offended. "I would never," he said dramatically.

Harry rolled his eyes.

Sirius nudged him, "I'm sorry, pup. I promise. What do you want to ask me?"

Harry wasn't sure he believed him, but he began his question anyway. "Well, I've been having regular study dates with this girl for about three weeks now, and I was wondering, if I was to ask her on a real date, where could we go here at Hogwarts?"

Sirius wagged his eyebrows. "A girl, huh? What's her name? Do I know her?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't think so. Her name is Cho. She's in Ravenclaw."

"And she's a fourth year?" Sirius asked.

"How did you know that?" Harry asked suspiciously.

"Remus told me," Sirius answered, smirking. "I didn't know you were into older women," he teased.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'm not. She just happens to be older, and very pretty. And she's good at quidditch and really smart and really pretty…" he trailed off. Sirius's chuckles brought him back to reality. "Anyway, you promised not to tease me, so answer my question."

"I promised not to tease you mercilessly. Trust me, there's all kinds of teasing coming to my head that I'm not saying," Sirius responded.

Harry glared at him. "You're no help. I'm going to bed." He stood up to leave, but Sirius grabbed his arm. "Ok, ok. I'm sorry. Well, you have a few options. Of course, if the weather is nice, a picnic on the grounds by the lake is always an option. If you're really nice to the elves in the kitchen, they'll fix you a picnic basket full of goodies. Of course, you and Miss Chang could always go flying together, since you're both into that, and maybe have dinner in the stands."

Harry nodded along. "Those are good ideas."

"There's also a room on the seventh floor, left corridor, called the Room of Requirements. It can actually change into whatever you need it to be, so if you needed it to be romantic, like maybe with a fireplace or candles, you could go there. But I'm not telling you how to get in there until we've had a talk," Sirius added.

"A talk?" Harry asked, confused.

"Maybe I should've said the talk."

Harry's eyes were as big as saucers. "That's ok Sirius. I'm pretty sure I know what I need to about that," he answered quickly blushing. "I think I'll ask her to go flying with me."

Sirius smiled and ruffled his hair. "My little puppy is growing up," he teased.

Harry pulled his head away and scowled at his father. He couldn't stay annoyed though. He had a great father, an upcoming holiday, and plans to ask out a beautiful girl. As far as he knew, life couldn't get much better than this. Maybe he thought to himself this year will finish like a normal one.

He really should've known better.