Chapter 42: Bright New Beginnings

Sirius was up bright and early the next morning. When Hermione finished her shower and found him in the sitting room he'd already moved all its furniture into the finished dining room. They weren't to be left to only each other's company again that day. Hermione had only just finished helping Sirius enlarge the windows in the sitting room when the first of that day's influx of NEWT students, Neville, arrived with a potted plant and asked where to put it.

Between bites of toast and sausages, Hermione and Sirius cleared most of the furniture out of the day room on the first floor for the plants as Neville went back to Pomona's cottage for more. The first plant he'd brought, a Perkins's Nutterblossom, watched them from the corner of the room, hiccoughing.

They were Levitating the bed out of the day room and into the drawing room when Neville returned, walking slowly up the stairs and making low cooing sounds to a burlap-shrouded plant he held from the hook at the top of its hanging pot.

'Chagarins Plant?' Sirius whispered to Neville.

Neville nodded and held up a hand as he reached the landing.

'Hang back,' he said in sing-song tones, 'it took me a while to get it to trust me. Don't startle it…'

Sirius grinned and leant against the drawing room doorframe, watching Neville navigate his way cautiously into the defunct day room.

'Hope Pomona gives you guys Hogwarts's Pride of Gnoblac,' he whispered to Hermione. 'I miss it. Cuddly bugger.'

The last plant, contained in a glass box, was placed in a corner of the spare bedroom next to the day room. It resembled little more than a withered twig poking out of its large pot. Hermione and Neville slid it out of the box and Hermione cast a Chilling Charm on its pot before they left it in the room with the door shut. Immensely valuable and difficult to obtain, a Norwegian Lys couldn't be left to the dangers of anything.

'We only have it for one night,' Neville told Hermione in the corridor outside. 'Pomona says it can't be away from its colony for longer than that, but she let us take one so long as we're careful to keep the windows shut and don't let it near the Chagarins Plant. One ball of light and it could obliterate the microbial symbiosis the Chagarins Plant survives on, and the other way around – the Chagarins Plant could rip the Lys to shreds. She really wants us to see it though. She says Hogwarts will lose its licence to keep its Lys colony if the school doesn't renew its application by the end of the school year, and every time she's tried, the Office for the Regulation of Wizarding Education won't put the application through because Hogwarts isn't open.'

Hogwarts, as Hermione had known and loved it, really needed Umbridge out of the way – soon. For once it seemed she had a companion in that worry, Neville casting her a sad look on behalf of the Lys colony and its Hogwarts tenure.

Harry, arriving on the first floor with the uneaten half of his breakfast, was followed shortly by Ron and Ginny. They joined Hermione and Neville in the day room.

Neville had removed the Chagarins Plant's cover and hung the plant up in a corner. It needed warm and moist conditions, so Hermione had put a jar of bluebell flames, set to heat a dish of water, on the floor below it. Harry, Ron, and Ginny stood around, looking sceptical, as Hermione warned that the six-inch long plant could become dangerous at any second, if it felt threatened.

'It doesn't require soil,' Neville told them happily, pointing out the three thin free-floating roots holding the plant to the netted base of the hanging, pot-free planter. 'It absorbs all the nutrients it needs from the moisture in the air and kissing bug dung. Kissing bugs will naturally swarm it, attracted by the scent of its sap, but Pomona wouldn't let us have any of the kissing bugs in the greenhouse, so she just gave us some of their dung. They're imported with the plant from South America. We can't get sick from kissing bug bites, but Muggles can, so there are strict controls on using kissing bugs to fertilise Chagarins Plants to keep the bugs from getting out.'

'And,' Ron said, frowning at the small plant, 'how is it dangerous?'

To the untrained eye, the Chagarins Plant looked like a pretty if unusual ornamental houseplant. It had a single lustrous fuchsia flower poking out the top of a cluster of long and narrow leaves that looked like stiff blades of grass; most coloured forest green, a few smaller ones of whiter shades.

Hermione prodded the end of one of the leaves with her wand and all five of the students scampered away or dived for cover as the plant erupted abruptly into a great many huge, whipping tentacles equipped with porcupine-like spikes.

'You could've just told us Hermione!' Ron shouted from the floor, having thrown himself face-down on the carpet. 'I think it got me!'

Hermione had been ready for it, as had Neville. She'd crouched down behind the one buffet table left in the room. Neville had just hopped far enough away to be out of the plant's reach. Admittedly, Hermione had been hoping for one of the plant's other two forms to be what it changed into when she'd poked it. She wasn't about to admit that to Ron, though.

'Oh yes?' she said, peeking over the surface of the table to see whether the plant had calmed yet. 'And you'd have listened to me?'

Ron, to Hermione's unspoken pride, was easily Healed under her wand. All he'd had were a few scratches on the back of his neck.

Chagarins sap, as a result of its changeability, was an essential component of morphing potions like the Instant Reversals Potion and, more relevantly, the Polyjuice Potion. The sap was best extracted from the immature, whiter leaves. They set their sights on five white leaves, and got to work.

Neville went for the first leaf, the rest of them muttering gentle placations to the plant until he grasped a leaf and plucked it off. Though they beat a hasty retreat, all the plant did in response was turn into what looked a lot like a rodent, curled and furry on the hanging planter. The rest of the group didn't fare as well. Running, dodging, and launching away from the spiked tentacles, they managed to get three more leaves; Ron landing on the carpet on a couple more occasions and swearing more and more loudly at the plant.

'Oh, that's nice,' Ginny remarked tiredly, sat where she'd thrown herself to the floor after Hermione had picked the last leaf. 'I think it likes you, Hermione.'

Hermione looked over the top of the buffet. Dangling from the planter was a beautiful cluster of wisteria flowers.

'So,' said Neville, breathing heavily, 'now we just need to trickle kissing bug dung on it.'

Hermione could well have joined the others' groans.

'Okay,' said Ginny, pushing up her sleeves when they moved on to the Perkins's Nutterblossom. 'What's this one do?'

The remnants of the Nutterblossom's flowers, cups of seven grey-green sepals each, turned to face her. Ginny took a wary step back as the sepals closed and ballooned, then scrunched up her face when they opened back up and belched, loudly, at her, sepals vibrating.

'Well,' answered Neville, 'just that, really.'

'So it's just a flower,' Ron said cautiously, 'with its petals fallen out, that burps at you?'

And could blow raspberries too, it turned out. According to Hermione's books, the Nutterblossom was known to learn other sounds as well, as a result of what it was exposed to: meows, barks, and, in a few as yet unverified cases, even bawdy songs. The only day of the year it was silent was on its bloom day, which occurred for twenty three hours in late April.

In addition to harvesting the pollen that collected in the remnants of its flowers, they were supposed to attempt to teach it something new. Harry started whistling the tune to "Do Your Ears Hang Low?" but even when the rest of them had the tune stuck in their heads, the plant just blew a raspberry at him.

'It is bawdy,' Harry defended as they trooped down for lunch. 'At least, it was the way Dudley sang it.'

Ron got Harry to give him the lyrics.

'Ah, come on,' Ron complained. 'That's not bawdy! That's just asking if you have saggy knackers.'

'Got anything better?'

Ron didn't, but he did suggest the twins could help them out. Or Sirius.

'I'll verify it,' Sirius said when asked over lunch. 'It was only one line, but James and I did manage to teach our Nutterblossom some of Sweaty Betty the Fisherman's Daughter. Admittedly, we did try harder with ours than most students would have. Sang to it in our dormitory all week. Think we even missed a few classes for it.' He smiled to himself as he fetched mustard. 'Should sing it to Remus again sometime – see if his threat to throttle me if I did still stands.'

'How does the song go?' asked Ron.

'I don't think,' Hermione interjected, 'we really need to hear it.'

Sirius chuckled, casting her a mischievous look.

'At least the line the Nutterblossom learnt was the one about the kelpie…' he said, offhand.

Hermione dropped her face into her hands. Sirius laughed outright, and not just a few barks – it was a deep belly laugh of open amusement.

'Do you know it?' Ginny asked Hermione.

'No,' Hermione grumbled. 'But I think I've heard enough to guess.'

'What happened with the Kelpie?' Harry asked innocently and Sirius laughed harder as Hermione groaned.

'I don't think I'm allowed to tell you,' Sirius chuckled.

Norweigen Lys typically only unfurled at 9 at night. They could check it to see whether it would open before then, but, removed from its colony, that was unlikely. The students would either have to return later, or hang around. Hermione tried to sell them on Conjuring practise, but the tired and bruised finial-year students weren't eager. They followed Sirius upstairs, let him show them the dining room, then continued with him into the sitting room.

There was a very bare-bones look to the sitting room. Sirius had spent the morning stripping it – of just about everything. The ceiling mouldings here had been removed as well, sections of the ceiling smoothed white with new plaster. Sirius had torn away most of the wainscoting too, leaving only a bevelled skirting board that had been sanded right down to the wood.

'What about the theory?' Hermione said to Ron. 'You have been keeping up with it, haven't you? You know we will have to write exams on it, don't you?'

Ron looked back at her for only a second before turning away, rubbing his hands together. Harry and Ginny weren't looking directly at Hermione either. Harry had taken great interest in a newly plastered section of wall around the switch for the gas lamps.

'Need a hand, Sirius?' he asked.

'I will give you all homework,' Hermione said irritably.

Sirius had been filling a paint tray. He looked up at Harry, then switched his gaze to look more warily at Hermione.

'Maybe…' he said slowly. 'If… you don't need to do… something else.'

Ron was investigating a paint roller. He prodded it into the paint in the tray and was instructed by Sirius on how to roll the paint all over it.

'Oh, fine,' Hermione gave in, but she gave them seven chapters to read thoroughly by the next time she saw them, and if they didn't she warned she'd make them write an essay on it.

'How're you going to make us?' Ron asked, unconcerned, as he tried the roller on the wall.

'Tell your mother,' Hermione said grouchily. 'Or put a Chagarins Plant in your bed – one that can change into a spider.'

Ron looked around at her. He nodded.

'Good threat,' he said, pushing up his sleeves. 'Okay, I'll do it. I may even write notes. Just keep threatening me with that.'

Sirius directed both him and Harry to the walls. He whisked his wand at the collection of paintbrushes and, one by one, they dipped themselves into the paint and sped off to start painting the edges and corners, paint spattering all over the carpet. Neville rolled up his sleeves carefully, took another roller, and headed to join Harry and Ron.

Ginny took a cursory look at what was left of the painting supplies. Sirius having charmed two to take on the ceiling, there was only one roller still on the floor, a smaller one.

'No brushes left,' Ginny said, shrugging expansively, and settled herself comfortably on the floor to watch.

Hermione's elbow and knee hurt. One she'd knocked on the side of the buffet getting out of the Chagarins Plant's way, the other… Hermione didn't know when she'd hurt her knee, but it would feel better if she got off of it and sat down. If Harry, Ron, and Neville wanted to paint… well, that was nice of them. Anyway, it was quite warm in the room. Without the curtains, more sun than usual was streaming in. Sirius hadn't stoked back up the fire for a while, but coals were still glowing red at the base of it.

'I'm sore,' Hermione said quietly, sitting down, as Ginny sniggered at her. 'I'm sure it'll feel better if I just take a bit of a break.'

'Yeah,' Ginny agreed. 'Me too. Just a bit of a sit down and watch. Then I'll be right as rain.'

They hadn't bought a ladder, so Hermione figured Sirius had created the one he was climbing up. He had a paintbrush between his teeth and had hung a small tin of paint from an outcrop near the top of the ladder. He perched himself just below the ceiling and started painting the edge beside the cornice, arm raised above his head, bicep stood visible as his t-shirt sleeve bunched up.

For all Sirius's usual runs didn't leave him sweaty, painting in the warm room did. Hermione's eyes fastened to his back. A small patch of sweat had stuck his t-shirt to his back just above his belt. Every shift of Sirius's torso made his t-shirt ripple over working muscles. Hermione knew exactly what his back looked like under that t-shirt. If the cotton just plastered itself a bit more to him… maybe she'd see those dips right above his buttocks. Or… maybe she wouldn't. They may be under his belt…

Neville snorted a little laugh and Ginny gave a loud 'Woot!' It caused Sirius to look around. Reluctantly, Hermione did too.

Harry had yanked his jumper off. He tossed it into the corridor. It seemed the jumper had been all he'd been wearing.

'I didn't have any clean tops,' Harry explained as Ginny cackled beside Hermione. 'And I wasn't planning on painting when I got dressed today…'

'You don't even have to do your own laundry,' Hermione pointed out. 'How can you be out of clean tops?'

'I only have four of them,' Harry defended, picking his roller back up. 'And I didn't want to wear robes today. I've seen enough of Ron's pants during Herbology to know it's not a good idea when dealing with plants that might fight back.'

'Oi!' Ron exclaimed. 'What'd I do? I'm just here… painting a wall… minding my own business…'

And, thankfully, wearing a pair of corduroy trousers.

As an objective witness who wasn't moving much at all, Hermione could attest to the fact that the room was getting warmer between four bodies working in it and more and more of the afternoon sun shining in. She didn't open a window. She provided some help, instead, by casting Refilling Charms on the paint tins – and tried not to stare too hard every time Sirius hopped off the ladder to hoist the tins up and pour more into the two trays. Ginny's help seemed more focused on making sure the room was painted well. She took decent pleasure in pointing out poorly-covered sections of wall.

The room heated up even more when they cast drying charms on the walls and ceiling before starting on a second coat. Ron gave in, his sleeves pushed as high up his arms as he could get them, and swung open a window. He stuck himself out of it for a moment, then came back in and grumbled about stupid autumn warm spells.

Ron didn't seem interested in following Harry's example, but Sirius did. He finished the area of ceiling he could reach from the ladder, hopped down from it, and peeled his t-shirt off. It landed in the corridor beside Harry's jumper. No one laughed or whooped this time. A topless Sirius was rather more impressive than a topless Harry, in Hermione's opinion. And with the lithe, dense strength that hoisted the ladder up off the floor and shifted it along the wall… well, Hermione just watched.

'Sirius,' Ron said, crouching down by the skirting board, 'what do I do if I get paint on the wood?'

Sirius had stuck the paintbrush between his teeth again as he climbed the ladder, his back flexing and shifting above his leather belt. He hooked a leg through a rung to secure himself, collected the paintbrush, and answered, 'Just use a Scouring Charm. It comes off easily when it's wet.'

Ron looked over at him, hesitated, took a second covert look, then went back to the skirting board and pulled out his wand.

'Yeah…' Ginny breathed. 'I'm looking. I shouldn't be. Make me stop.'

Hermione pulled her own eyes away and directed Ginny to refill a paint tin. With Ginny distracted, Hermione felt no need to stop staring at Sirius. Even if he saw her do it, he wouldn't be anything other than interested in her interest. He was leaning, the muscles in his side picturesque, one hand on the ceiling to steady himself, backside tight under jeans that fit him perfectly… reaching over to paint right along the ceiling…

The front door opened.

'Kreacher?' Tonks's tired voice called. A second later, over the sound of Kreacher's crack of Apparition, a baby wailed.

'His teeth, again,' Remus's equally tired voice said. 'If you would, Kreacher?'

'In here!' Sirius called out to them. 'I have three lackeys working for me. Come see!'

Sirius just smiled as three voices contested that.

Remus appeared, stepping into the room and looking around.

'It is very warm in here,' he remarked.

'We know,' Ginny responded. 'That's why Hermione and me are sitting out. We're not allowed to go topless.'

Teddy's cries quieted and Remus stepped farther into the room, evaluating the enlarged windows.

'That's not why you're sitting out,' Ron disagreed.

'We're overseeing!' Ginny laughed. 'And we're doing a good job!' She pointed at the wall, 'You missed a bit, Ronnikins.'

Tonks followed Remus in as Ron told Ginny what she could do with her "overseeing". Tonks's hair was a cascade of loose auburn curls today.

'Teddy?' Remus asked her.

'Stuck him on the front doorstep to chill out,' Tonks answered, ducking around him to get further into the room.

'Interesting parenting decision.'

Tonks grinned up at Remus.

'Nah,' she said. 'Kreacher took him. He'll call us if he can't put Teddy to sleep upstairs.'

'Best of luck to him,' said Remus.

Sirius had painted as far along beside the cornice as he could without toppling the ladder. He swung his leg out from behind the rungs and dropped straight down off it, landing smoothly.

'There's another roller over there,' he told Remus, tipping his head towards it as he picked the ladder up.

Tonks left Remus to it with a pat on his back. She sat down beside Ginny and leant back on her hands.

'So we're just sitting and watching, are we?' she asked.

'Un-huh,' agreed Ginny.

All three of them watched on as Sirius hefted paint tins to refill trays and Remus undid his robes, hesitated, then took his button-down shirt off too, untucking it from perfectly pressed trousers.

'I like this,' Tonks said, grinning as she watched Remus toss his clothes with Harry's and Sirius's. 'It's like going out to see a show… Chippendale painters – why isn't that an entertainment?'

Hermione thought Remus had heard that. He cast a look at Tonks. She grinned widely back at him.

Hermione's eyes didn't remain long on Remus, and it wasn't because she didn't want to seem to be staring at the terrible scars very visible across just about every part of his torso. It was a secret admission that she'd been attracted, at one point or another, to every man in the room. Most of those attractions seemed very old now – forgotten and incomprehensible.

There was only one now. Hermione's heart seemed to swell with a very strange sense of pride, warm grey eyes meeting hers and lingering as Sirius set the paint tin back down on the carpet. There wasn't another man in the room who could hold a candle to Sirius. He seemed simply more than all of them, and it wasn't just because he was taller, stronger – and did a lot to live up to the sexy hero who looked like he was born dangerous… to anyone he didn't care to protect.

There was a great deal, knowledge of the thoughts rioting within Hermione, that she could find to be proud of him for. Not the least of it being that, somehow, it seemed he was a person who could hold her. Could hug her, smile into a kiss; be affectionate. Something, before she'd started getting to know him, Hermione wouldn't have expected – couldn't have imagined him capable of. It wasn't surprising to her any longer, but… remarkable that Sirius could be that. After everything.

It had been a swelling wave, first under the surface, then right there, obvious to Hermione: just how much she did want him. He wasn't really hers. She had no right to think that. But to know he had been holding her close every single night… that he knew she was watching him as he swung himself back into a secure position at the top of the ladder – that he glanced at her, not seeming to mind one bit that her eyes were still on him… was electrifying.

Hermione tore her attention away. Remus had taken up a spot on the far side of the room behind Sirius's ladder. No one had even looked twice at him – not because the scars didn't attract intrigue, but because Hermione wouldn't be alone in not wanting to seem like she was looking too long. Not a single person in the room was eyeing Remus with pity or glancing over with anything other than easy acceptance. Sirius looked down at him as Remus said something to him, and just laughed, going back to his painting. Then again, Sirius would have seen those scars so many times before – healed a good few of them himself. Hermione banished from her mind the memory of Remus lying in the entryway. She had no desire to mar her sunny and, truthfully, quite horny mood.

'Oh lord!' Tonks breathed, so quietly Hermione had to lean nearer to hear. Of them all, Tonks was the only one openly watching Remus. 'You have no idea how huge a step for him that is! I can't even tell you – it was so hard to get him to take anything off at all in the beginning!'

'Really?' Ginny whispered.

'Shhh!' It was more by watching Tonks's lips that Hermione made the sound out. 'He can hear really well! But, yeah – ' Tonks shot a quick look at Remus before leaning in. 'He hates it! This is amazing!'

'No one minds,' Hermione breathed back. 'We all know. No one is surprised.'

'Tell him that!'

Hermione wouldn't. She was sure Remus would prefer that no one commented at all.

'But… oooh…' Tonks uttered. 'He is thin, isn't he? I'm gonna need to try that cooking thing again…'

'Or just stick chocolates all through the house,' Ginny suggested.

'I never noticed… really,' Tonks was murmuring, watching Remus sadly. She shook herself and gave a guilty grin. 'There's a problem with using chocolates: I keep eating them all. I'm not kidding – I'm terrible! Never been hungrier! Breastfeeding takes it out of you. But…' her attention had turned back to Remus. She frowned. 'Has he gotten thinner?'

'I doubt it,' Ginny breathed back reassuringly. 'You're probably just seeing him in context… Harry's filled out, you know, and… well… Sirius…'

It was true. Hermione had been in Harry's body for a full hour the previous year. She did think he looked… older.

Tonks had snorted softly.

'Yeah,' she whispered, 'bloody Sirius! Oi, Uncle Siri!' She called. Sirius looked over, startled. 'I recognise you now!'

Sirius rested against the ladder with a hip up against the top of it.

'What?' he asked, confused.

'My first real memory of you,' Tonks said. She waved at the ladder. 'Topless and painting – I just remembered!'

Sirius was frowning back at her. Remus looked up at him. Hermione thought Remus looked uncomfortable.

'Oh, come on!' Tonks said. 'You must remember! It was in that flat of yours! Mum said you were never to help her choose paint colours, implied you were insane, and then left me with you while she went to get her hair done.'

'Andy never was one to mince her words,' Sirius agreed.

'It was a horrendous colour to paint a home,' Remus commented.

Sirius glared down at him.

'I was – what, eighteen?' Sirius said defensively. 'In a tiny little flat in a dodgy part of town. What did you expect?'

'The Floo powder,' Remus muttered, 'to sit in a bowl on the mantle.'

'You're still grouchy about that?' Sirius said, astounded.

'And don't get me started on the rug,' Remus added.

Sirius shifted to stare properly down at him.

'What was wrong with my rug?'

'It was purple shag.'

'Yeah!' said Sirius. 'It was a good ol' shag rug! Gotta love a shag rug!'

Sirius went back to painting the ceiling. A moment later he started humming a tune Hermione didn't recognise. Remus stopped rolling paint on the wall and looked up again. Though Sirius didn't meet his gaze, Hermione was sure he'd noticed: there was humour in his face. He started to sing quietly:

'So there Sweaty Betty had it made

And by the lakeside was where she stayed…'

'Merlin's beard, Sirius,' Remus muttered. 'How can you possibly still remember that?'

Chuckling, Sirius leapt off the ladder. He grabbed it, picked it up, and leant through it to see Remus.

'For there was where –'

Sirius ducked as a paint roller came flying straight at his head.

'I thought you liked that song Moony!' he laughed.

'I hate that song!'

Sirius laughed harder. He scooped up Remus's roller, handed it back to him, and moved the ladder a few feet over. Hermione watched him climb back up to continue with the ceiling.

'I'll just refill the paint myself, then, shall I?'

Hermione looked over at Ron, standing by an empty paint tray. Ginny and Tonks were snickering beside her.

'It'd be good practise for you to do so,' Hermione said. 'The past three NEWT exams have tested students on Refilling Charms.'

Grumbling, Ron gave it a shot. Hermione intervened halfway through and cast the correct charm on the tin. She didn't want to have to carry another armful of unnecessary items back from the hardware shop.

'You know,' said Harry, stopping by Ron to coat his roller in another load of paint, 'it'd be nice if you three helped.'

'You don't want us to help!' Ginny called after him as Harry returned to the wall. 'We'd make your attempts look worthless!'

'You could do better, could you?'

Ginny pushed herself up from the floor and grabbed one of the decommissioned paintbrushes.

'Oh yeah I could!' she said, catching up a small paint tin. She danced over to a wall that still had green showing through the white, shot Harry a look over her shoulder, and wrote "Chicks rule, blokes drool!" on it with the paint.

'Bit rich,' Harry remarked, 'considering it was you three who were drooling.'

Ginny shot a mock-glare at him. She turned back to the wall and wrote quickly "H. P. has a heart-shaped birthmark right under his" –

The next word turned into a squiggle as Harry caught her around the waist and wrenched the paintbrush away from the wall; Ginny giggling madly.

Sirius had watched the scene from a low step on the ladder. He laughed, watching Ginny squirm against Harry.

'You have a birthmark where, Harry?' asked Neville.

'Never – ' Harry broke off, grunting, as Ginny fought him, the brush coating him in paint. '… you… mind!'

'I can tell you where it is, Neville,' Sirius said casually.

Harry froze, Ginny sliding out of his arms to the floor below where she laughed helplessly. Turning, Harry treated Sirius to a wide-eyed look.

'It's…' Sirius started slowly –

'Sirius!' Harry shouted and launched at his godfather. Sirius leapt from the ladder with a single bark of a laugh. 'How do you even know?'

'Changed your nappies, my boy!' Sirius laughed, then laughed harder, doubling over, seeing Harry's expression. There was a second of stillness then – 'Oof!'

Harry had collided with Sirius, the older man's foot shooting out behind him to stop himself falling backwards – Harry's arms grappling with him, trying to topple him to the floor. Sirius swivelled, turning to stand akimbo, knees bent, Harry stumbling to keep his hold on Sirius as Sirius gripped his shoulders; Harry grabbing for any part of Sirius he could use to wrench the taller wizard off balance.

'I wouldn't try that if I were you, Harry!' Tonks warned. 'Mad-Eye called Sirius the most promising fighter he'd ever taught!'

Harry had been struggling to shove away Sirius's arm. His head came up and he frowned at Sirius, one arm around Sirius's neck.

'Are you going easy on me?' Harry asked, and then he grabbed Sirius's knee, yanking it.

Sirius let go of Harry, letting his knee be pulled up, standing on only one foot. Then – in less than a second – Sirius had turned aside and swung his leg right around Harry's neck, catching the messy-haired teenager around the shoulders where he was bent over – and then the two of them were down on the carpet, Harry flat on his face, Sirius dropping on top of him and pinning him to the floor, Harry's arms held behind his back in Sirius's grip.

'I was,' Sirius responded, not even out of breath.

'Shouldn't,' Harry mumbled to the floor, 'have said anything.'

Sirius got off him and offered a hand to help him up.

'That,' Remus said mildly, 'was unfair, Sirius. He has had far less experience than you.'

Sirius let Harry's hand go once Harry was back on his feet. He scooped his hair out of his face and turned on Remus.

'You offering, Moony?'

Remus considered it. Tonks cheered loudly. Hermione was sure Remus looked amused.

'All right, Padfoot.'

'Must I remind you,' Sirius said, facing Remus properly, 'that I've won these about a hundred times?'

Hermione didn't know whose feet had started it, but, creeping slowly, facing each other, the two old friends, both far older than they were acting, were circling.

'And I thank you for it on full moons, but – '

Hermione couldn't tell who'd moved first – Sirius's elbow was around Remus's neck, a hand shoving at Remus's shoulder as Remus snagged at both of Sirius's feet. Remus pushed upwards, forcing Sirius's feet out from under him – Sirius tumbled, pulling Remus down with him, rolling them so Sirius was on top again –

Remus was facing the floor, fighting to remain on his knees and elbows, tugging at Sirius's arms –

Hermione was sure Sirius had won, but Remus yanked his head through Sirius's arms, getting an arm over the tattooed man's torso and shoving.

Sirius's leg pushed out beside him, the other on its knee, him staying defiantly upright, grappling with Remus's hands. Getting the werewolf's hands up for just a moment, Sirius rammed his shoulder into Remus's chest, his extended leg straightening sharply, pushing his weight into Remus.

Remus fell backwards, Sirius landing on his side on top of him. Flipping himself, his face held tight with intense focus, Sirius forced Remus's hands above his head before Remus could fight back; swinging a leg over Remus, straddling him, and holding Remus's hands to the carpet, the muscles in his arms standing proud.

'Hummmm…' Tonks hummed teasingly. 'Yummy.'

Hermione found herself laughing. She wasn't the only one. Two pairs of eyed looked their way, one a dark amber, the other a very focused grey.

Sirius and Remus seemed to understand each other in a single glance. In a blink of Hermione's eyes both men were up and launching at them. Hermione and Tonks scrambled to their feet.

Hermione had no chance. Sirius caught her before she could shift her weight into a sprint, dropping his shoulder to her middle and flipping her up over it. He stood and she hung, helpless, down his back.

Hermione's shriek died and she heard a scuffle next to her. She pushed up from Sirius's back and watched Tonks shoot forward around Remus, avoiding his outstretched arms and skipping away, laughing. Remus leapt and caught her but Tonks turned, deflecting him, crying, 'I am a fully trained Auror, you know!'

In his next try Remus was more effective – snagging one of Tonks's arms he swung her around, pinned her back to him with both arms, and sat straight down on the floor, Tonks being pulled into his lap.

'And I grew up,' he panted, 'wrestling with Sirius.'

'Well,' Tonks said, and her voice was suddenly much softer, 'that explains how you always beat me, then.'

Hermione's position, strained up to see the two, was getting uncomfortable. She let herself hang and was glad when Sirius bent and let her down. When Hermione could see his eyes again he was smiling at her. Her hands remained on him for a little longer than they really needed to.

Remus left to check on Teddy, and the rest of the day slowed into a more languid completion of the task they'd begun. Hermione, Tonks, and Ginny joined in with the painting, then the varnishing. Once they got all the furniture back into the sitting room, they dropped, tired and satisfied, into seats, Teddy gnawing on a hard biscuit between Sirius and Harry on the sofa.

'I like it,' Tonks said, sprawled out on most of a sofa, staring out at the room. 'I'll let mum know your house is looking good this time around, Sirius. She'd be glad to hear you're not really nutty-bananas. And that this place is looking up. Think you've gotten the Black stain out of it, finally.'

Sirius glanced up for only a second. He was letting Teddy play with his wedding ring.

'Just a bit dark,' said Ginny. 'The gas lamps are nice – warm – and all, but they don't really let you see much, do they?'

'We think the Wizengamot's still incomplete,' Tonks answered Ron on their way down to dinner. 'And Bill's mate has sent a letter of interest to the Hitters' Office. Kingsley sanctioned it. It's no surprise, really. Bill's a great judge of character. If he says they're worth it, they're worth it.'

'Yet,' grumbled Ginny, 'he married Phlegm.'

Tonks looked at her and smiled.

'Ever thought, Ginny,' she said, 'that Fleur is actually quite insecure? She's pretty nice when you get her alone.'

Ginny frowned thoughtfully at the stairs. She didn't look convinced, though.

Tonks and Remus left after dinner for Teddy's bedtime. Sirius had never seen a Norwegian Lys, Hogwarts having acquired its colony after he'd left school. Interested, he followed them up to the first floor.

They closed the curtains but didn't light the lamps in the room. Treating the Lys to light might cause it to furl up again. Hermione was next to Sirius when Harry shut the door behind him. It left them all well in the dark before their vision adjusted. Sirius had put his top back on. Hermione rested a hand against his back: just knowing he was there and feeling the firm muscles in it.

'Oh…' Ginny whispered. 'I see something… Is that it? In the corner?'

Hermione peeked between the dark shapes of Sirius and Neville. There were faintly glowing white balls standing in a circuit in the corner right where Hermione and Neville had left the Lys's pot.

'That's it,' Neville answered quietly. 'The glowing baubles are on stalks around the base of its body. It buries them in the dirt around it when it's furled, but they rise up when it unfurls. The patterns on every Lys's body are unique to it, and seem to describe family groups in the colony.'

'I thought there was only one colony,' Sirius whispered. 'Isn't it illegal to remove them from their valley in Norway?'

'It was,' Hermione answered. 'Until the early 80s when an epidemic of Nerve-Hijacking Curses meant their pearls – a crucial component of the antidote – were in short supply with only one colony available. That slowed down after European Ministries undertook a widespread campaign to combat the popularity of Nerve-Hijacking Curses, but the original colony couldn't absorb the several new ones that had been created, so it wasn't demanded all Lys were returned. There are still a great many restrictions, but you can import them if you get the right permissions from your local authorities and the Norwegian Ministry. You have to choose which ones you take really carefully to get a healthy colony. An expert has to do it.'

They clustered closer and squatted or kneeled down around the plant. There wasn't much room, and Sirius leant back a bit to let Hermione get nearer. The glowing light from the hanging baubles around the Lys illuminated its body. Chalice-shaped, the Lys was open at the top, its flesh coloured a deep and misty purple if able to be seen with enough light. Twirling and looping around the outside of its body were mother of pearl speckles that glinted as the baubles waved a little in the light breeze caused by their movement.

'You have to reach inside it,' Neville whispered, 'to get the pearls – without touching it. If you touch it anywhere it signals all the other Lys in the colony that they're being harvested and they furl up when the light from the signal shines on them. The ball of light it makes won't hurt you. It's purifying, though doesn't burn hot. Pomona says she expects we will touch it trying and that we'd be disappointed if we didn't. Even Herbologists highly experienced with the Lys touch it often enough. She says we should try to get at least one pearl before we do, though.'

'Reach inside…' said Ron, 'the opening in the top there?'

Hermione could just see his finger pointing in the glow from the baubles.

'Yes,' said Neville.

'Get a Seeker to do it first,' said Sirius.

There was a moment of whispering between Harry and Ginny before Harry said, 'Okay, I'll try.'

They shuffled aside a bit for him, Hermione's side pressing up against Sirius as he leant further back. Ghostly white above the Lys, Harry's hand hovered over it, him getting up and bracing himself on the side of the pot to be as steady as possible.

'I think my hand might be too big,' he said, pausing. 'The opening's not very wide… You try, Ginny.'

They swapped places. Ginny concentrated hard, leaning in.

'How deep are the pearls?' she asked. 'It gets pretty narrow not far down…'

'Above the narrowing,' Hermione told her. 'In the cup part. Reach slowly. The pearls are much harder than the plant. Feel for them.'

'Don't touch it,' Ginny muttered, 'but feel for pearls…'

Very cautiously, she reached into the cup of the Lys. They waited, Ginny's face screwing up as she tried to feel for pearls without touching the plant. Her face relaxed a bit, and she stared intently into the gloom of the chalice as her hand withdrew as carefully as it had entered.

'Got it!'

Ginny held up a dark, round object.

Hermione's hands were the second smallest in the room, but this was Neville's passion. She let him shift up and take a shot at it. Neville had barely reached inside the Lys when he sucked a breath and pulled his hand away, crouching back.

Hermione felt a little puff of air, but there was no ball of bright light. There was no light at all. The glowing baubles had disappeared into rustling dirt.

'What happened?' Ron whispered.

'I touched it,' said Neville. 'It's furled itself back up!'

'I thought you said it'd release a ball of –'

'There!' Harry hissed. 'Look up!'

Hermione did. She couldn't tell whether the faint glow was only a few feet above her or right up against the high ceiling, but it was there, and it was getting brighter. Hermione blinked, the white light seeming to flicker and wink, getting so bright Hermione squinted trying to look directly at it. The ball of light made no noise, not a hiss or crackle. It left Hermione with a deep impression that her senses weren't quite adequate to perceive it.

'Is it moving?' Ginny asked.

'No…' said Ron. 'Or… wait… yes!'

It was, very slowly, and then, speeding up, it swept the room, not seeming to illuminate the walls or the ceiling as it passed. If it got anywhere near them, it wasn't able to pass through solid objects and came swooping back over their heads to hang, stationary, somewhere indeterminate above them; intangible but visible.

Hermione felt the hairs on her arms prickle. She couldn't tell whether the light was eerie or just ethereal. A shiver went down her spine as the ball seemed to lower without getting bigger in her vision.

Hermione's elbow rested on Sirius's leg, her neck craned up to stare at the ball of light. She felt Sirius's hand rest on her lower back and glanced at him. Upturned, Sirius's face was less brightly illuminated than the bright ball should be lighting it; the space beyond his face utterly black. He met Hermione's gaze, his eyes reflecting the white light in a visible sheen. Under its glow his irises looked almost transparent. It was frighteningly beautiful in a spectral sort of way.

The ball of light drifted back into Hermione's sight and, without warning, disappeared.

If she was breathing, Hermione couldn't feel it. She leant into Sirius's warmth and shivered as he wrapped an arm around her, holding her tightly in the darkness. For a long moment, no one moved. No one spoke. Hermione didn't want to. She felt different, without knowing how. Perhaps… as though she'd had a shower for the first time after weeks of feeling grungy. Or simply like she'd just seen a UFO. She hung onto Sirius's leg, needing the feel of denim and his rubbery muscle under her hand.

'Whoa…' Ron uttered after what felt like an age, and that was about all anyone could say about it. They left the Lys in peace, and the slate-grey pearl with Neville.

Strangely jumpy, Ginny said it was late and she was going to crash with Hermione. She didn't even pretend to go up to the third floor, walking into Harry's bedroom before Harry did. Hermione shut the door to Sirius's bedroom and turned straight into his arms.

Author's Note

The Lys is very much inspired by a real phenomenon. If you want a fun thing to look up, check the Hessdalen lights!

Also, a fair amount of fluff in these chapters! Thought it appropriate for the holiday season! Two more chapters after this one for today.