Hello Everyone

I'm sorry about the delay. These past few months have been, extremely challenging for me. But I'm doing better and as such:

I've got three chapters for you all! I truly hope to have the batch out in a timely manner.

Until then, please enjoy!


Last Time on Black and White:

"Oh, well. I'm sorry, I don't- I'm not really, err, I don't really do a lot of kissing."

Fleur smiled again. "Well, maybe we can give you a little more experience?" she responded as she leaned in slightly and softly caught his lips.

Harry was shocked for a moment before he slowly started kissing back. He still felt a large amount of confusion around their whole situation, but he figured that this wasn't so bad. He really enjoyed kissing and Fleur seemed to enjoy kissing him too. So… maybe he should accept whatever this was and focus on the soft pair of lips that were currently on his own.


Book 4 – Chapter 36: Rekindling and Reactions

It had been about a month since Harry and Fleur's… discussion? He was still confused on their dynamic, despite what Andrew and Ron said.

"I mean, you're basically dating though, right?" his brother asked with a frown as he laid on his bed, facing the ceiling.

"I don't know. She didn't mention anything about dating, she just said that sometimes a kiss is just a kiss."

"Well, maybe she does actually like you, but she's scared of what her schoolmates might think?" Ron suggested, with a frown.

"Maybe? But ever since we spoke, her friends have been greeting me whenever I passed them. That means she's told them about me, right?"

The other two boys frowned in thought, they had no idea what any of this meant and were honestly more stumped about this than any of the lessons they were learning in their little study group.

"Girls, man." Ron sighed with a shake of his head. "Crazy, the lot of them."

They spent the rest of the afternoon speaking on non-consequential stuff; Quidditch, coursework, chess, anything.

Later that evening, Harry found himself once more in the tender embrace of Fleur's arms. Her lips softly caressing his own as she gave him another 'lesson'.

"Hmm, I zink, you are finally getting better, 'Arry."

"Thanks, but, you're the one teaching me, so you should be thanking yourself." He responded with a hint of a blush on his cheeks.

Fleur laughed slightly, causing a flutter to erupt in Harry's stomach.

"Oui, zat is true, but you are a fast learner."

He chuckled at her response. They were currently seated out near where they had shared their second kiss, the hill side provided a beautiful view of the stars sparkling above them. The moon provided a dull light over the grounds, but even so, Harry could see the silvery blonde of Fleur's hair which hung off her shoulder like a waterfall, her pale skin seemed to absorb the rays of the barely visible moon and illuminate against the dark background behind her.

He was lost, drinking in her beauty, the way her eyes scanned the night sky as if searching for something, her petite hand gently running against his own. She was gorgeous, and for some reason, a reason he was still unsure of, she had chosen to have him be her, companion? Kissing compatriot? Snogging friend? He really wanted answers, but at the same time, didn't want to ruin, whatever the hell they had going on. Perhaps he should write Sirius and ask him about it?

"Zey are beautiful, non?"

"I'm sorry?" he responded, snapping back to reality.

"Ze stars."

"Oh, yeah. They are."

"You know, sometimes I will go out onto ze lawn back 'ome at ze villa, and just lay on the grass and stare. I stare for 'ours and 'ours, just staring at zem."

"Really?"

"Oui, ze 'orld is such a big place, 'Arry, it makes me 'onder, just how big is it out zere?"

He glanced back up at the twinkling stars in the sky.

"Zey 'old so many secrets and stories, ze stars. Such 'onder and mystery."

"Beautiful." Harry mutter just loud enough for Fleur to hear.

"Oui, beautiful. Come, lay down wiz me."

She laid back and pulled him down with her, the pair just stared up at the stars, neither said a word as they simply enjoyed the view and the other's company.

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The haul for Auror new recruits were not… astounding, Sirius noted with a sigh as he threw his coat on the sofa after a long day at his new job. He rubbed his face tiredly and went to the kitchen to prepare a sherry for himself as a treat before going off to bed. Tonks would be home later as she had more duties to perform as an Auror Trainee.

Sirius found his liquor in one of the cabinets and grabbed a glass before hearing a light tapping on his window, he frowned and took a peak, seeing a snowy white owl perched on his sill awaiting permission to enter. Recognizing Hedwig, he quickly let her in and untied the letter to her leg.

Going over to another cabinet, he pulled out a small saucer and poured some water into it.

"Sorry, don't really have any treats for you, but if you get hungry, I'm sure you can find some rats around, right?

She hooted in response and Sirius took it as a confirmation. Opening the note, he began reading, wondering why Harry would send him something this late.

Dear Sirius

How is everything? I know we haven't written in a while and I'm sorry about that.

I guess Andrew and I just aren't used to having someone to write to, you know?

We'll try harder to write you more. Have you gotten any more feedback about from your mind healer?

Professor Dumbledore told me that you recently got a job as the new Auror Trainer. Congratulations! That's good news, right?

So, you must be wondering why I've written you, at all. Well you see I've got this… issue.

There's this girl, her name is Fleur; yes, the same one from the Prophet Article. We've been… spending a lot of time together, you know?

We've snogged a few times and we had this really nice moment tonight.

But I don't know what we are? You know what I mean?

I've asked her about it before and she told me that kissing sometimes just means kissing and there isn't any meaning behind it. Which, okay, I guess, but then she tells me that she doesn't mind us still kissing. Basically, I want to know if she has feelings for me, or if she's just… you know? Having fun.

Which I don't mind! I'm having fun too, but am I crazy for wanting to know if there's something there? Or if she likes me, like how I like her? Or should I just go with it and not ruin something?

Please help!

Love

Harry.

Sirius smiled at the note and gave a small sigh of content. Their boy was growing up, oh James would be so proud. And Lily, but mostly James. Sirius thought for a moment before a yawn tore its way through him and he realised just how sleepy he was. He turned to the owl which brought him the letter.

"You don't mind spending the night here, do you? I'm absolutely knackered and couldn't send off a proper response even if I wanted to."

Hedwig bobbed her head in what Sirius assumed was agreement and he gave the owl a small scratch before downing the rest of his scotch and headed upstairs to prepare for bed.

Tonks arrived a few hours later, practically dragging her feet as she stumbled into Sirius' new house and the house she would now be staying in. It was cheaper than finding an apartment in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade and it got her out of the Tonks residence, and Sirius didn't mind, even if he did, he didn't voice his displeasure, so Tonks took it as a positive sign.

Tonks kicked off her shoes, walked expertly around the couch and other objects that would be in her way in the living room and made it to the kitchen where she turned on the light in order to get herself a snack before retiring for the night. She turned around and headed around the island in the kitchen towards the fridge before she stopped suddenly, drew a deep breath and swore quietly.

Her little toe had connected with the island with a painful thud and it took a lot for her not to curse at her damned proficiency for tripping.

She leaned against the marble top to catch her breath when she noticed a parchment laying open. She recognized the handwriting as Harry's and felt a small pang as she realised that he hadn't sent her a letter in a while. Well, neither had Andrew but he was terrible at remembering to contact people.

She knew she shouldn't, it was obviously addressed to her cousin, but she couldn't help her curiosity. She pulled it closer, and began reading.

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Saturday found Hermione and Andrew sitting in the common room, each one busy with their own work. Harry and Ron opted to finish any homework they had once they had returned from flying, leaving the two former friends on their own. Everyone who had heard the row from the two a few weeks ago could feel the tension in the air.

The Gryffindor students were used to hearing Andrew grumbling about a particular essay before cursing out loud and immediately being reprimanded for his foul language by an annoyed Hermione, they were now subjected to a quiet stillness. Hermione sat on the love-seat, books strewn all over the other seats and her parchment resting on the table in front of her. While Andrew sat on the single sofa, a book resting in his lap and not paying anyone any attention.

The lack of cursing and rebuttal, laughing and teasing, or just general conversation about their work was just plain stressful.

Hermione was focussed on her essay but acutely aware of the silence in the room, she didn't dare look at Andrew as she was terrified that he'd be looking over at her as well. She shook the thoughts from her head before she felt a small object hit the back of her head. Frowning she turned around to see a crumpled-up piece of parchment. Pulling it open she read a short message; "You guys are being ridiculous, talk to him already!"

Turning she saw Lavender and Pavarti looking suspiciously innocent and narrowed her eyes in annoyance. As if she didn't already know that she just had to apologise. She crumpled the parchment back up and gave Andrew a quick glance he was still reading his book.

Hermione suddenly felt a cold shiver run up her spine, she didn't need to turn around to know why she felt the sensation at all. She knew, that everyone in the common had seen the parchment hit her and could accurately guess as to why the Gossip Queens had done such a thing. Everyone now had their attention on them, and Hermione felt a small amount of sweat build on her spine.

She wanted to talk to Andrew but if she asked him to follow her they would no doubt be tagged by a listening charm or monitoring charm and would be followed once they thought they were alone. If she took him to the dorms… yeah, she couldn't do that. So, she did something that would have absolutely shocked and disappointed her younger self; she wrote a note and with a quick swish of wand, the parchment floated over to Andrew and landed on the pages he was reading.

Andrew hadn't been reading anything for the past ten minutes, he simply stared blankly at the book in his lap for about 20 seconds before moving on to the next one. His thoughts were on Hermione, who was currently sat perpendicularly to his left. He was trying to think of a way to talk to her and put an end to this dumb silent feud between them. He blinked and breathed a bit heavier, when suddenly a piece of parchment floated over to him. He pulled it open and read.

"Andrew, I wish I could do this in private and in an actual conversation to you. But I mean, I'm sure you're aware of our current predicament. So, I thought this would just make things easier. Firstly, are you okay? I know the second task happened a while ago and that Madam Pomfrey would've healed all of the injuries, but I was so scared for you, seeing you there, bleeding again, just- it made me realise how stupid I was being and I just wanted to say, I'm really sorry."

Andrew frowned and looked around for a quill before quickly standing head over to a group of what looked like second years and told of them to hand him his quill.

"What? Why should I do that?"

Andrew paused and smiled coolly at the boy.

"Have you ever been woken up in the middle of the night by a cool breeze, only to find yourself 150 feet in the air on a broom being controlled by not only the fourth-year student you decided to annoy but also a Quidditch player who's in the mood to play a game of catch the kid?"

"C-Catch the kid?"

"Oh, yeah, so you get taken about 200 feet into the air and then dropped, and it's the rider's job to reach the ground before you and catch you. I mean, I've only seen it being played once, but Travis wasn't fast enough, poor Benjie."

Andrew saw the kid's eyes bulge especially since no one stood up to stop the older boy from terrifying this second year and so being the naïve child that he was, he instantly believed the outrageous story Andrew had just spun. He handed the older boy his quill and Andrew walked back to his seat, ignoring the occasional snort from a student around him.

"Hermione, there is no need to apologise, really, I was being I shouldn't have told you who you can or can't be friends with, even if I don't really like them. The choice is ultimately yours and yours alone. I'm sorry for being such a prick about everything and especially that ultimatum. I know I promised no more Hospital Wing, but honestly, I think Madam Pomfrey would go mental if she didn't have someone to unnecessarily hold hostage overnight. Friends again?"

He sent the note off to her and watched as she read, she gave a small chuckle and looked back at him smiling and nodded her eyes before moving her books to the table and motioning him to sit down beside her. Andrew smiled back and quickly joined her.

"I missed you." She whispered at him with a smile, her eyes slightly wet.

"Me too."

With a sniff she looked at him and gave him a hard look.

"Now, go give that boy his quill back and tell him you were joking about dropping him from the sky."

"Seriously? It was a joke, I'm sure he's fine!"

She gave him a stern look and Andrew groaned lazily before standing. Walking over to the group of second years he placed the quill back on the table.

"Listen, I'm sorry I took your quill." He ground out.

"And…?" he heard from across the room.

"And! I'm not going to drop you from 200 feet and try to catch you before you become the same consistency as strawberry jam."

He saw the boy's face turn a slight green before he turned and headed back to Hermione.

"Honestly can't you say you're sorry like a normal person." Hermione's smile was lazy and only held slight amount of annoyance.

"I did though! You're fine, right kid?"

As the two continued their argument the rest of the occupants let out a small breath of relief. This hadn't been an easy year for Gryffindor house, and there were still many, many problems they were still working through but seeing Hermione and Andrew rebuild their relationship was a sight they were happy for.

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"She's obviously using him, Sirius! Why can't you see that?!"

"And why can't you see that Harry has to figure out what to do for himself?"

"He's still a kid! He doesn't know how to figure stuff out for himself."

"Tonks, I don't know what's gotten into you lately, but Harry can handle himself."

"He's going to get his heart broken."

"Then he'll learn what that feels like, and strive to not feel that way again."

Tonks stared at her cousin, her nostrils flared and her hair turned an angry orange.

"Why is this such a big deal for you? Harry's fourteen now, obviously he's going to be curious about girls and their cryptic way of thinking. If this doesn't end up working – which is what I think, since this girl lives in France – then he'll have his first heartbreak, which is normal!"

"But Sirius!"

"Enough, Tonks. Listen I know you're worried about him, but what are you going to do? Interview every girl he gets a date with?"

The young Auror seemed to be debating something in her mind, before she deflated, her hair shifting to a light brown.

"I'm just worried about him."

"Well don't. This isn't Voldemort we're talking about here, just a regular girl. One of millions that could potentially break his heart."

"She's so much older than him though."

"Really?" Sirius asked with a quirked brow. "You want to talk about age differences? How's your pursuit of Remus going?"

"Okay, okay, point taken."

Sirius nodded happily and grabbed his coffee which he was sad to realise had turned cold. A quick heating spell should fix that.

Tonks sighed and brushed some of the wrinkles out of her uniform as she waited for Sirius to finish so that they could head up to the offices. First her and now this Fleur girl, well, at least she now knew that Harry had a type; older.