March 30, 1994

Harry wanted to talk to Cho, but every time he saw her in the halls, she was with her friends. By the time Wednesday rolled around again and they were scheduled to meet at the library, he was a nervous wreck. His palms were sweating, his heart was racing, and his tongue seemed to weigh a million pounds as he attempted to talk to her. He was certain he had never been this nervous for a quidditch match. Quidditch is easy he told himself. Girls are complicated.

He and Cho had exchanged essays to check them for each other, but Harry was sure he hadn't actually read a word of hers. He figured it didn't really matter; he rarely ever found a mistake in her work. He glanced down at his watch, knowing he had to leave for quidditch practice soon. It was now or never.

"This looks great, Harry. Where did you find this information on the giant wars? It's really interesting," Cho said, breaking Harry out of his stupor.

"Oh, Sirius bought me this book to help with History. It's much more interesting than the textbook," Harry answered, pulling the book from his bag.

"Oh, could I borrow this?" Cho asked.

Harry nodded hurriedly, "Sure. And this looks good too," he answered, handing her the book and her essay. "Listen, Cho, I have to go soon, but I was wondering if um...if you'd like to go...go flying with me sometime."

Cho looked surprised but smiled brightly. "Oh Harry, that sounds wonderful! When were you thinking?"

Harry was so surprised she said yes that it took him a moment to register that she had asked him a question. "Oh...well...I have quidditch practice every night until the next match, and this weekend is the holiday. But how about next Saturday?"

Cho was beaming. "Ok! Next Saturday."

Harry suddenly remembered what Sirius had told him about the house elves. "I can ask the kitchen elves to pack us a picnic, if you'd like."

Cho smiled. "I'd like that very much."

Harry smiled back. "Ok, well I better go. Bye Cho."

"Bye Harry."

For the first time Harry could remember, he didn't want to leave for quidditch practice.

March 31, 1994

"How are you feeling Moony?" Sirius asked his friend worriedly.

Remus looked at him with tired eyes. "I've been better, but I'm ok."

Sirius frowned. "Why didn't you ask me to teach for you again? I wouldn't have minded."

Remus waved him off. "I'm fine Sirius. With exams coming up, I didn't want to miss any more time with the students."

Sirius huffed. "If you insist." He took a seat and crossed his legs. "Did I tell you Harry asked me where to take his lady friend on a date?"

Remus looked intrigued. "He did? Well that explains what all the giggles were about in class today. She and her friends were positively beaming."

Sirius chuckled. "You think he'll be anything like James was with Lily?"

Remus shook his head. "No, I doubt it, at least not with Miss Chang. If I know the two of them well enough, I'd say this won't last more than a few months."

Sirius nodded. "You know Moony, you're an excellent teacher."

Remus recognized that tone. Sirius wanted something. "Thank you," he answered skeptically. "Now what do you want?"

Sirius faked outrage. "I don't want anything. Can't I just compliment my friend?"

"You could, but would you?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I was just saying that you are an excellent teacher, and maybe you could use those excellent teaching skills to teach our Harry about...dating."

Remus stared at him a moment before it clicked in his mind what Sirius was implying. "Oh, no. Absolutely not. I am not having the talk with Harry. That duty is definitely for the father, not the fun uncle."

Sirius harrumphed. "This is one of those things that I feel like Prongs is looking down and laughing at me about."

Remus chuckled. "Perhaps."

They were both quiet a moment when Harry showed up carrying his school bag. His hair was even messier than normal, wind blown from quidditch practice.

"Hey pup! Ready to go?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, do I need to bring anything?" Harry responded.

Sirius shook his head. "I don't think so. We'll floo to the house first so you can make sure there's nothing there you want, but we'll have to hurry. Our portkey activates in half an hour."

"Where are we going?" Harry asked anxiously. "Also, what's a portkey?"

Sirius smiled brightly. "Cinque Terre," he answered, wagging his eyebrows, "Italy. And I'll explain the portkey when we get home. It's just another method of wizard travel."

Remus brightened. "You're going to love it there, Harry. I'm sure Sirius will tell you all about it, but we have many fond memories of there."

Harry nodded and said goodbye as he followed Sirius to the floo. Once they had taken the portkey and arrived at their hotel, a beautiful and tall building situated directly in front of the beach, they picked up some ice cream from a nearby restaurant and walked on the beach for a while. It was getting late, so Sirius sent Harry to bed with promises of plenty of adventures the following day.

It was well after midnight, and Harry couldn't sleep. The waves breaking outside his window made a beautiful melody. He rolled out of his bed and made his way for the balcony. He smiled to see Sirius sitting outside as well.

"Couldn't sleep?" Sirius asked with concern.

"No," Harry shook his head, "But I'm fine," he quickly reassured, "I just like listening to the waves."

Sirius smiled and motioned him over to sit next to him. Harry sat down and leaned on Sirius as the man put his arm around him. He felt too old for such treatment, but he enjoyed it nonetheless. They sat quietly together a moment and watched the waves. Sirius looked down at his glass.

"Firewhiskey?" he offered teasingly.

Harry chuckled. "No thanks. Do we have any pumpkin juice?"

Sirius nodded and summoned a bottle from their small kitchenette. "You know, I'm impressed. When I was thirteen, I would've jumped at the chance if an adult had offered me firewhiskey."

Harry smirked but otherwise didn't respond.

"What was that look?" Sirius mused.

Harry blushed slightly, "Nothing, it's just, I've had firewhiskey before. Usually after the quidditch matches, someone has a bottle in the common room, or sometimes Seamus or Dean will bring one from home. It's just not really my thing."

Sirius smiled. "I guess I should've figured that." He took another sip of his drink, then pointed to a spot on the beach. "You see that dock over there?"

Harry squinted but could see the wooden structure. "Yeah."

"Your grandparents brought your dad and I here every year. During sixth year we met these muggle girls down on the beach. Snuck out one night and got completely sloshed on some beer over on that dock. Your grandmother was furious." Sirius and Harry both laughed at the story.

"What did she do?" Harry asked.

"Nothing right away, just yelled at us all the way back to the room. Then she woke us up early the next morning. Of course we were hungover, our heads were pounding, but she absolutely refused to give us a potion to help. Your grandfather lectured us pretty good, I thought he might wallop us, but instead he just made us carry all the beach equipment and food down to the beach, and we sat miserable in the heat while he took your grandmother on a boat ride. After that though, your grandmother finally relented on the potion and then let us swim, and she took us out to eat that night. Then another time, I think it was during our third year, they brought all four Marauders here."

"No beer on that trip?" Harry asked.

Sirius laughed. "Nope, no beer. But we did get a hold of some muggle fireworks, snuck out, and set them off on the beach."

"Sirius, did you take a trip with my grandparents that you didn't sneak out?"

Sirius nearly spit out his drink. "Well it was their fault. Fleamont gave James that blasted cloak."

"Isn't an invisibility cloak kind of pointless when you're setting off large explosions?"

"You know, I think those might've been your grandfather's exact words," Sirius answered laughing. "Anyway, we didn't fully understand how different muggle fireworks are from wizard ones. One of them hit one of those trees over there and started a fire. Your grandfather had to put it out with his wand without any muggles seeing. It was a whole ordeal. He did paddle our backsides for that," he finished with a chuckle.

"All four of you?" Harry asked incredulously.

"No, just your dad and I, but he informed Remus and Peter's parents the next day. I don't know what happened to Peter, but I know Remus's father wasn't pleased." He patted Harry's shoulder. "And just about ten minutes from here, there's a little village with a beautiful fountain in the middle. I'll take you there this weekend. Your dad asked your mum to marry him in front of that fountain."

"Really?" Harry asked.

Sirius nodded. "Really. Poor guy was a nervous wreck. Remus and I were watching from inside a shop nearby along with a couple of Lily's friends. It was funny to see James so anxious. He was always so confident in himself, but when it came to your mum," he shook his head as he smiled, "he was a mess."

"I wish I could've known them," Harry said quietly.

Sirius squeezed his shoulder. "I wish you could've too. They would be so proud of you."

They were quiet again, each enjoying the other's company. Harry leaned into his father a little further. He could hear Sirius's heartbeat and the sound was soothing to him.

"So, you've never been to the beach before?" Sirius asked.

Harry shook his head. "No. I've never really been on a holiday before actually."

Sirius inwardly cursed the Dursleys. "Well, we'll just have to make this one extra special. Tomorrow, we'll take a boat tour and do some snorkeling."

"Snorkeling?"

"Yeah, you'll love it. You see all kinds of sea animals. What do you think?"

Harry smiled. "Sounds brilliant."

"Brilliant" ended up being the best description of their entire holiday. They ate delicious foods, spent most of Friday and Saturday in the water, went hiking on some nearby trails, and watched a movie at a local cinema. Harry's favorite part was all the stories Sirius told him from his trips there with James.

"Thanks for bringing me here Sirius. It was amazing," Harry told his father sincerely as they were packing Sunday morning.

"No need to thank me, Pup. Maybe we can come back here this summer," Sirius responded. "You can bring Ron and Hermione, as long as you promise no beer and no fireworks," he added, pointing a finger at his son playfully.

Harry laughed. "Deal," he responded.

April 5, 1994

For Harry, his semester could not have been going any better. Despite his insistence that they weren't needed, he found his mind healer sessions to be quite beneficial, though he would never admit it. Quidditch practices were a joy with his firebolt back, and his extra defense lessons with Remus were challenging but brilliant. The highlight of his week was seeing Cho on Wednesday evenings, and he was looking forward to their date the following Saturday. He didn't want to do anything to jeopardize all of these, so he worked hard on his schoolwork and was excelling.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all sat in the Great Hall eating breakfast together. When the mail arrived, an unfamiliar brown owl dropped a letter in front of Harry. He didn't recognize the owl or the handwriting on the outside. Raising an eyebrow, he picked it up quickly and opened it. His eyes grew wide and his face paled as he read the note.

Harry Potter,

Wormtail wasn't the only one. The Dark Lord will rise again, and you will die.

"Harry, what is it?" Hermione asked, concern coloring her speech.

"Nothing," Harry answered, folding the parchment back up.

"It's obviously not nothing. You look like you've seen a dementor," Ron responded.

Harry sighed and handed the paper over for them to see. Ron let out his trademark 'Bloody hell' while Hermione squealed in fear, causing a great deal of their fellow students to turn and stare.

"Shhhh," Harry hissed.

"Sorry, it's just, this is serious Harry. You've got to tell a teacher," Hermione told him.

Harry glanced over at the staff table, noticing that Remus along with most of the other teachers had heard Hermione's outburst but had gone back to their conversations without much thought. He reached over and took the letter back.

"It's probably just Malfoy being stupid. His little dementor scheme didn't work at the last match, so now he's trying to scare me before this one," Harry told her.

"Still mate, you should say something. This is pretty dark, even for Malfoy," Ron answered.

Harry looked back up at the staff table. Remus was engrossed in a conversation with McGonagall. "I'll mention it to Sirius, but not until after the quidditch match next week," he told his friends.

"But Harry…" Hermione began.

"No, Hermione. You know how overprotective Sirius is. If he sees this before Saturday, he might make me cancel my date or sit out the quidditch match. I'll show it to him afterwards, but not before."

Hermione and Ron exchanged nervous looks. They both thought Harry was making a mistake, but they knew better than to argue with him.

….

Remus and Sirius looked up as Remus's office door opened. Expecting to see Harry, they were quite surprised by who actually walked through the door.

"Severus? This is a surprise. What brings you in this evening?" Remus asked pleasantly, ignoring his best friend's scowl at the sight.

"Trust me Lupin, I have no intention of staying longer than is absolutely necessary. What time will Potter be here?" Snape replied cooly.

"Harry will be here around 4:40," Sirius answered, annoyed.

"Very well," Snape began glancing at his watch, "I want to make you aware that your ward is hiding something."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

"Because at breakfast this morning I was observing the students, as is our duty, and I heard the Granger girl squeal in fright and observed Potter and Weasley looking guilty. They also continued their incessant whispering and, no doubt, plotting in class today. Surely you noticed their behavior, Lupin."

Remus frowned and shook his head. "I didn't notice, but then again, we had an exam today so they wouldn't have been talking anyway."

Sirius studied Snape skeptically, finally crossing his arms. "And just what is Harry hiding?"

Snape looked at him, annoyed. "If I knew the answer to that, I would be punishing him and his little friends right now, not speaking to you."

"What makes you so sure that they're doing something wrong?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, pardon me Black, I was under the impression you had actually met the boy," Snape answered sarcastically.

Sirius wanted to reply heatedly, but he knew Snape had a point. Before he could say anything, Remus answered, "Thank you for informing us Severus. We will speak to Harry."

Snape gave a curt nod and exited.

Remus crossed his arms and looked at Sirius. "What are you going to do?"

Sirius was still glaring at the door Snape had disappeared through. After a moment he shrugged and looked back at Remus. "I don't know. I guess I'll just ask Harry what Snivellus is talking about. I'm sure it's nothing."

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose. He was fairly certain that neither Snape nor Sirius would ever be mature enough to get along with one another. "I doubt Severus would bring this to our attention if he didn't believe it was something of importance."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "He's probably just looking for a reason to give Harry detention. And if it is something important, Harry will tell me. I trust him."

Remus nodded. They both looked up as they heard a familiar voice mutter from outside the door, "Bloody git." Harry turned into the room, scowling.

"Well, hello to you too," Sirius greeted him with a smirk. He noticed Harry still had his books with him.

Harry looked at him and smiled. "Sorry, Snape just took five points because I was running, but Hagrid let us out late and I was in a hurry to get here."

Sirius bit his tongue to keep from insulting Harry's professor in front of him. He looked at the clock on the wall. "No worries. We have time. I actually need to talk to you about something."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Am I in trouble?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow back. "That depends. Snape actually came to see us. He seems to believe you are up to something."

Harry furrowed his brow. "Well, what does he think I'm up to?"

"He didn't know, but he seems to be under the impression that you are hiding something."

Harry continued to look confused. "Why does he think that?"

Remus cut in, "He said he heard Hermione cry out this morning at breakfast, which I remember happening too. What was that about?"

Harry swallowed, thinking hard. He considered for a moment telling Remus and Sirius about the note, but he couldn't risk Sirius going back into his overprotective mode. "Well, Ron said something to upset her. You know how they are. Always bickering."

Sirius and Remus both stared at Harry for a moment, both of them skeptical.

"He also mentioned you and Ron had some trouble paying attention in class today," Sirius continued.

"Well Ron tends to think he has better things to do during potions than pay attention," Harry answered, attempting to lighten the mood.

"Harry," Sirius said warningly, "We've talked about how bad you are at lying. Are you hiding something?"

"No," Harry answered quickly. He was actually surprised at how easily the lie came out, and equally surprised at how terrible lying to Sirius made him feel.

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'm not hiding anything," Harry answered quickly, knots twisting in his stomach.

Sirius studied him a moment. "Ok, well you better get going. Do you want me to send your books back to your dorm?"

Harry shook his head quickly, happy for the change in subject. "No, I have two exams tomorrow. I was hoping you would quiz me this evening."

Sirius nodded and pointed to the floo. "Go on, Healer Williams will be waiting on you."

Harry nodded and hurried to the floo. As soon as he had disappeared, Remus and Sirius looked at each other.

"He's definitely hiding something," Sirius told him.

"No doubt," Remus replied.