For Sadie, the next few weeks passed by in a blur of schoolwork, Quidditch practice, and sneaking out at night to either visit Rhea or map out the castle with the boys. With the help of her brother and friends, she was pulling consistent Exceeds Expectations' and Acceptable's in her Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts assignments. The Quidditch team was looking great, thanks to Gideon's rigorous training demands, and both Rhea and the map were making steady progress. Rhea was slowly graduating from bottles to solid foods, and she was getting stronger and stronger every day. The mapping spell that Peter had found was working wonderfully; they figured they had finished about half of the castle.

Even with all of this going on, however, Sadie and Gideon somehow managed to spend some amount of time together nearly every day. It was clear that they were more than friends, but the most they had done physically was some hand-holding and a bit of snuggling here and there. Sadie knew that this was mainly for her benefit; this was the first time she'd been in any such relationship. She was grateful to Gideon for taking things slow for her, but she also worried that he would get impatient with her eventually.

"It's not that I don't want to kiss him!" She fretted to Lily one day as they worked on a Potions assignment in the library. "It's just that, you know, he's got a lot of experience, and I have...well... none!" She rested her chin in her hands, biting her lip anxiously. "Lils, what if I'm a horrible kisser? What if one kiss from me is enough to send him packing? What if I find out that I don't even like kissing?"

Lily gave her friend a sympathetic smile. "Have you talked to Gideon about any of this?"

"Are you kidding me?" Sadie scoffed. "That would be so embarrassing!" Lily sighed.

"Well, I'm sure that if you did talk to him, he would say that he has no expectation that you'll be an amazing kisser already. He knows you've never kissed anyone. I'm sure you'll get better at it with practice." Suddenly, her eyes gleamed wickedly, and she smirked at Sadie. "Of course, I suppose you could always ask Sirius to teach you. I'm sure he'd be more than willing to be your practice buddy. From what you've told me in the past, you'd probably quite enjoy it too."

"Lily Evans!" Sadie gasped and accidentally dropped her quill. Cheeks flaming, she ducked under the table to retrieve it and came up to see Lily stifling her giggles with her scarf. "I told you, that was a fluke! Sirius and I have absolutely no desire to kiss each other!" Despite her words, Sadie's brow furrowed thoughtfully, an expression that Lily correctly interpreted. She sobered instantly.

"I was kidding!" She hissed, sounding a bit panicked. "Sadie Mae Potter! Under no circumstances are you to ask Sirius to give you snogging lessons!"

Sadie blinked and shook her head, chuckling nervously. "Right, no, of course not. That would be a terrible idea on so many levels."

"Sirius?" Sadie began hesitantly. The two of them were in the kitchens grabbing snacks for themselves and the other boys after they had finished mapping out the Astronomy Tower. They were seated next to each other at a small picnic-style table, waiting patiently as the house elves happily bustled about preparing them a basket of goodies. Sirius quirked an eyebrow at her curiously.

"What's up, Sadie Mae?"

Sadie paused and sucked in her cheeks before letting out a long breath. "Ummm...what does kissing feel like?"

Sirius froze. He blinked at her owlishly for a moment before gathering his wits enough to respond to her. He felt fairly accomplished that his voice only cracked the tiniest bit. "Erm...kissing..." He scratched the back of his neck uncertainly. "It's a bit difficult to describe if I'm being honest. What, um, what kind of kissing are you referring to?"

Sadie's eyes widened comically. "You mean there's more than one kind?!"

Sirius stared at her. Then, the corners of his mouth twitched, and his discomfort with the conversation melted away as he let out a bark of laughter. He gave her a look filled with fond amusement. "Well, yeah, I mean, are we talking just a quick peck? A hot, steamy snog in a broom cupboard? Something in between?"

"Oh, I..." Sadie looked suddenly overwhelmed. "I don't know...I hadn't thought about any of that...um...What's your favorite kind?"

Sirius shrugged. "Depends on what kind of mood I'm in."

"Oh, Merlin..." Sadie whispered. "This is more complicated than I thought."

Sirius cleared his throat and fought to keep his tone casual. "I take it you and Prewett haven't kissed yet?"

Sadie shook her head slowly. "No, but...I know it's going to happen eventually, and...I guess I'm just a little intimidated by the whole idea of it..." She took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye. "Will you teach me?"

Sirius nearly fell off of the bench in shock. He gaped at her, and it was several moments before he found his voice. "Tea-Teach you? Teach you how?"

She scooted closer to him hesitantly and gazed up at him through her eyelashes. "Kiss me?" She whispered.

Sirius thought his heart might burst out of his chest as he stared down at her, looking and feeling quite like a deer in the headlights. Her eyes were wide with innocence, completely oblivious to the effect she had on him. Almost without realizing he was doing it, he lifted a hand to tenderly brush his knuckles against her cheek. Sadie inhaled sharply and allowed her eyes to flutter shut. Her heart pounded in anticipation. She felt his nose brush softly against her own and found herself tilting her head upward in an attempt to meet him halfway.

To her surprise, his lips never found hers, instead coming to press themselves gently to her cheek. They lingered there for a moment before he drew back just slightly and murmured, "Your first kiss should be with someone you've got real feelings for. I'm not going to steal that from you." He straightened and gave a weak laugh. "Besides, both Prongs and Prewett would have my head if they found out."

Sadie shot her gaze down to the floor, eyes stinging with tears of embarrassment. Sirius tucked a finger under her chin and guided her eyes back up to meet his, giving her a sad smile. "You're bloody amazing, and if Prewett decides he doesn't like you anymore because of your lack of kissing experience, he's an even bigger idiot than I thought he was."

Sadie laughed in spite of herself and allowed him to pull her into a tight hug. "You're right. Of course," she told him after a moment. "I'm sorry, that was a really stupid thing to ask. I shouldn't have put you in such an awkward situation."

Sirius shook his head with a chuckle. "It wasn't stupid. You just need to realize that it's Prewett who's lucky to have you, not the other way around. You don't need to feel self-conscious for his sake or anyone else's."

She looked up at him with a watery smile. "Thanks, Sir. What would I ever do without you?"

He gave her a fond look before standing up and grabbing the basket of food that the house elves had set on the table in front of them. "Shall we?"

Sadie nodded, brushing the tears from her eyes as she stood up and allowed him to pull the invisibility cloak over the both of them. His free hand found hers and gave it a comforting squeeze before simply holding it gently as they walked back up to the common room.

The next day was Sunday, and Sadie and the boys were gathered at a sunny spot on the shore of the Black Lake. Remus had dark circles under his eyes and was laying with his head resting on Sadie's lap, breathing deeply while she absentmindedly ran her fingers through his hair. Sirius was laying flat in the grass, casually making the leaves change color as they fell from a tree a few feet away from them while Peter ooh'd and aah'd. James was standing above them all, talking animatedly.

"...so, now I've just got to persuade Evans to wear my jersey at the Quidditch match in a couple of weeks. She can't possibly say no to that, can she?"

Sadie snorted softly. "If I know Lily at all, and I do, she can absolutely say no to that. But good luck with it anyway, Jamie." Remus smirked weakly without opening his eyes.

Sirius sat up with a groan just as a group of Slytherins walked past them. His eyes were glinting as he looked at his friends. "So, I was thinking, with the full moon tomorrow night-"

"Hush!" Sadie hissed at him, eyes wide. At the phrase 'full moon,' Snape's gaze had shot toward them from his spot in the Slytherin crowd. His brow was furrowed, and he nudged Rowle and Parkinson and began muttering quietly. The two seventh years' heads swiveled in the direction of the Gryffindors, their eyes narrowed. They continued to watch for a couple of seconds before walking away, whispering quietly as they went.

Sirius looked guilty. "Sorry..."

James shook his head. "There's no way they could have figured anything out from just that. But I wonder if they've got plans for the full moon again this month. That would explain their anxiety."

"We'll just keep our eyes peeled tomorrow night," Sadie agreed with her brother. "I'm sure it's fine."

Sirius nodded, but he still looked unsure.

Later that night, Sadie and Sirius were laying side-by-side on the floor in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room. They had returned earlier than usual from their visit with Rhea and were taking advantage of the opportunity to just relax and argue playfully with each other.

"Ummmmm probably 'A Hard Days' Night,'" Sadie mused. Sirius gaped at her.

"You're mental! 'Abbey Road?' Hello? Besides, The Beatles got way better toward the end of their career."

"No way!" Sadie disagreed fervently. "''Yesterday?' 'And I Love Her?' Those are both earlier works."

Sirius chuckled. "Ah, yes, it's the McCartney ballads that you like. Well, I see your 'Yesterday' and 'And I Love Her,' and I raise you 'Hey Jude,' 'Let It Be,' and 'Golden Slumbers!'"

"Well, yes, they had some good ones later on," Sadie conceded. "But they also got really weird after all the drugs and stuff. 'Why Don't We Do it in the Road?' 'I Am the Walrus?' 'Mean Mister Mustard?'"

"True classics," Sirius winked. She rolled her eyes with a laugh. "Alright, your turn."

Sadie thought for a moment. "Okay, how about...best professor currently at Hogwarts."

They paused and looked at each other before rolling their eyes and answering in unison. "McGonagall."

"Too easy," Sirius told her, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

Sadie elbowed him in the ribs and stuck her tongue out at him. "Alright, you do better then!"

"Dream vacation," Sirius questioned promptly. "No limits here, except that it can only include one location."

Sadie pursed her lips and pondered. "Hmm...I might have to say Bali. Rescuing baby sea turtles, relaxing on the beach, exploring jungles, bikinis all day every day, the works." Sirius swallowed hard at that imagery. "What about you?"

"I think New Zealand would be amazing. I don't have any specific ideas about what to do there, but it just seems like such a beautiful country."

Sadie hummed in agreement and shifted to rest her head on his chest with a yawn. "Let's go someday, okay? To Bali and New Zealand."

Sirius smiled and began to gently play with her hair. "Absolutely, Sadie Mae."

She closed her eyes and mumbled drowsily. "Promise?"

"Promise," Sirius whispered in response. And with that, she was sound asleep.

A/N: As always, thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!

BlueHairedRaven: Okay, your review seriously made my day! Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments! I hope you continue to enjoy!