Hello Hello darlings!

This chapter has been fighting me for a while, and I finally, finally managed to finish it today. This is insane to me, cause on the site this story will officially have sixty chapters posted (even though according to how I have things, it's only chapter 59 for me, since I don't count chapter 9 as a chapter). I am so freaking excited about the next few chapters. I really want to try and update at least one of my stories every day or every other day. That is probably a little ambitious, but I'm going to try and do it if I can.

THANK you all so much for your lovely reviews, seriously, they make me so, so happy. Just, thank you. Honestly, you lot are the best and I always love hearing from you! (If anyone has any questions then I'm going to be answering asks on my tumblr for the next couple of hours.)

Please leave a review and let me know what you think ;)

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Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, and only the story line and any OC's belong to me.

For habababa and for-witchcraft-and-wizardry xxx (your asks this morning made me so freaking happy omg)

Saturday, December 6th, 1975

Hogsmeade Village

Cold. Howling winds. Freshly fallen snow blanketing the ground, the sound of boots crunching in the white powder, a pair of footsteps getting lost in the several tracks that had travelled through the fluffy snow already for the morning.

He should be nervous.

He'd been nervous on dates before. With Dorcas he could practically taste his heart and how fast it was beating in his throat. That one time with Kira when they were testing if they were actually attracted to each other or not, was pretty nerve wracking—she was a bold lioness after all; whereas dating Emmeline had been fairly easy going.

This was different. He didn't feel nervous in the slightest. On the contrary, it was as if the eternal torment his soul underwent had quieted itself.

His entire body was on fire, warmth pouring out of his every pore, and sparks of heat were tingling across his palm where he was holding Riley's hand.

The two of them had been wandering around Hogsmeade for the past hour—they had popped into Honeydukes as soon as they reached the village, and had been sharing candy as they strolled along at a leisurely pace; talking about any and everything as they did. Sirius liked listening to Riley talk, and the way her face lit up when she mentioned her best friends—Pandora Ollivander and Xenophilius Lovegood.

She'd taken him by surprise when she'd cavalierly reached out and laced her gloved fingers through his.

"I can't believe you all got smashed last night in your dorm," Riley laughed wholeheartedly, shaking her head.

Crunch, crunch, crunch, the snow had just started to fall again, and it was already beginning to coat the pathway; Sirius glanced at Riley and saw that snow was beginning to catch in her hair and on the tips of her eyelashes. Sirius scrunched up his nose as he replied, "we had to, it was Hermione and Draco's birthday."

"I'm sure you could have celebrated without getting drunk," Riley pursed her lips in amusement.

Sirius sidestepped into her, pulling her close and meeting her eyes—so close that he could see all the tiny details in her richly coloured orbs—softly, with a playful grin on his face he said, "where is the fun in that?"

Riley blushed deeply—her cheeks reddening in a hasty manner, and the blush hurriedly raced up to her ears. She ducked her head slightly, and with her free hand began to play with the ends of her bangs on the right side of her head. Sirius took one more step forward before he stepped away, squeezing her hand gently as he led her towards their destination.

They were meant to meet the others outside of The Three Broomsticks—which was just around the next bend. Sirius was just thinking about how Frank was still pretty out of it, and how Alice and Lily had stayed in with him today when they rounded the bend, and Draco was the first one to spot them.

"Oi! Took you two long enough," Draco grinned brightly, untangling himself from Marlene and quickly closing the distance between them. Sirius saw Draco's eyes flick down to their joined hands, but the raven haired boy refrained from commenting on it.

Draco was dressed simply, in all black always, and despite how cold it was he had unbuttoned his thick winter coat, revealing the black turtleneck beneath it. A layer of snow was covering his head, but with a quick shake of his head a great deal of it flew off.

"You're here! Now we can get going!" Hermione exclaimed happily.

Sirius didn't notice how close Riley had gotten until she asked, "where are we going?" and he turned to look at her, only for her face to be mere inches away.

He swallowed jerkily before responding. "We're going to the beach."

Riley's eyes widened significantly, and pure joy poured out of her kind eyes, "really?"

"Really," Sirius murmured.

"How are we getting there?"

"You'll see."

Draco was a smooth talker, and it certainly helped that Rosmerta had a soft spot for him especially. It only took a few minutes of sweet words and charming smiles before the older witch shook her head in bemusement and sent them upstairs to use the floo in her room. She warned them that they had to be back an hour before all Hogwarts students had to return to the castle, or she would take them to McGonagall herself upon their return.

Sirius had never heard of the place that Hermione had told them all to say, but he trusted her, so he had thrown the floo powder down and clearly enunciated his destination as the green flames swallowed him.

Draco had gone first, and he was the second to arrive.

Sirius slowly exited the old stone fireplace, taking in his surroundings as he did. They were in a small shack—it was the only word you could use to describe it—the walls seemed to be groaning underneath some unseen pressure and were leaning inwards, there were a couple holes in the ceiling where soft light was filtering in through. The small window on the left side of the shack was boarded up, however the nails weren't all the way flush, as if whoever had hammered them in had been in a rush, and it was thus easier to see how they had quickly rusted due to the salt air.

The window on the right was much larger, taking up most of the wall, but the window panes had been knocked out a long time ago, and the mullion had rotted out at the top, and was leaning against the edge of the frame.

A thick layer of dust coated the floor, and a set of footprints had disturbed it, and Sirius followed them to the open doorway where Draco was standing in the middle of it, gazing out at the landscape before him. The door itself was propped up against the doorframe, obviously someone had rested it there after it had come off of its hinges; whoever it was was long gone, and had clearly not been here any time recently.

Sirius joined Draco by the doorway, and before he could open his mouth and say anything, Draco leaned down and started untying his black leather boots.

"Draco?"

Draco didn't respond, he simply began hopping out of the doorway, dropping his shoe in the sand before tugging off his sock and shoving it in his boot, he repeated the process with his other shoe. It was only as he shrugged off his coat did he look back at Sirius—who had heard the floo go a few times in the last few moments as some of the others joined them, and he could tell by their scents that it was Marlene, Remus and Hermione so far—with a mad, giddy grin Draco yelled at them, "well are you just going to stare, or are you coming?"

The beach was completely empty, a secluded 'sanctuary' for them and them alone.

Draco quickly divested himself of the rest of his clothes sans his boxers, and with the wild wind whipping through his hair, he tossed his head back before laughing and spinning around, only to race across the sand—kicking it up and sending it flying with the wind as he went.

Riley's scent filled Sirius's nostrils, and he glanced down at her.

"Well? We can't let him have all the fun," Riley grinned, and the warmth flared violently in his chest.

"No we can't," Sirius grinned, as he tugged off his gloves, stepping out into the sand, and as he walked he could feel the sand sailing through the air and wedging itself into his shoes, but he didn't care.

Quickly he stripped down, leaving a trail of clothes after him, letting out a loud howl at how the freezing wind was slicing across his skin. He could taste the salt on the air, and he let out a joyful sound when he heard Draco yell out suddenly as he began to run into the dark, frosty water.

"I think we may need warming charms," Sirius laughed as he instinctively wrapped his arms around Riley's smaller form, skin to skin. Her in bright yellow bra and dark blue panties, and him in his maroon boxers. With a quick wave of his wand, he cast warming charms on Riley and himself, he dropped his wand on top of his pile of clothes beside him.

"Well it looks like you are all about to see a lot more of me than you ever would in any other situation," Marlene remarked as she strolled past them in only her black lacy underwear.

Sirius let out a loud whoop as she sprinted across the sand, eventually diving straight into the water. When she emerged, she gasped loud enough that Sirius could hear her from all the way out here, a bright smile of shock on her face as Draco scooped her into his arms and kissed her soundly.

Sirius untangled himself from Riley and held out his hand, "Milady." Riley regarded it for only but a moment before grinning deviously and firmly grasping his hand.

Riley began to tug him towards the water, running backwards as the wind toyed with her hair, causing the short locks to fly across her face.

Sirius picked up his speed, and then they were both running side by side directly for the dark waves.

A jolt of cold raced up his leg as soon as it touched the water, and he was thankful for the warming charms now, because he could only imagine how much more icy it could have been. They both stopped about knee length, and Riley was dancing from foot to foot.

"Pete!" Sirius heard James yell as he pulled their friend and Mary into the water with him.

Sirius laughed as Riley threw herself into Sirius's arms and knocked them both fully into the water. Sirius caught sight of Remus carrying Hermione into the water on his shoulder right before he plunged beneath the water's surface. He kept his eyes open, and he saw the distorted images of his best mates in the world goofing around and splashing each other.

He slowly let out a small stream of bubbles through his nostrils, and watched in fascination as they wobbled to the surface; he was about to break the surface once more, when the fingers tangled in his hair stopped him. Riley.

He blinked at her through the slightly murky water, and before he knew it her lips were on his. It was weird kissing underwater, like your lips didn't have any traction at all. It was brief and didn't last long, but then she pulled away and they broke the surface together.

Sirius wrapped his arms around her waist, and tried to plant his feet in the grainy sand as the current kept trying to pull them out further and further. "What was that for?"

Riley shrugged, the pink blooming across her cheeks, "cause I wanted to." She blinked and water droplets sprayed off of her long eyelashes.

A smile spread across Sirius's face.
Sirius smelt him before he saw him, the fresh mint slicing through the salt, and the next thing he knew he was letting go of Riley as Draco jumped on his back.

Git, Sirius thought with a large grin, as he twisted and tried to grapple Draco into the water.

Not too long after the lot of them got out of the water, teeth chattering, gathering close for warmth and using drying charms on each other. He could see it on everyone's faces though, they wouldn't have changed a thing—icy wind or not.

They all quickly jumped back into their clothes—though it took some time to discern what was whose and where everything was since they had all discarded their clothes so haphazardly, with the exception of Marlene, who had neatly folded her clothes in a pile all together. Mary suggested they build a fire, and subsequently Sirius went with Draco and Remus to find some tinder.

It took a few tries, and it required several of them huddling with their backs against the wind, but they managed to light the bits of dry driftwood and dead plants that they had gathered on fire with an incendio.

It was peaceful here; Sirius felt a calm in his soul and a heat in his leg where Riley's thigh was touching his. Her head was resting against his shoulder, and she raised it every now and then to add a comment here and there to the gaiety and teasing conversation.

Hermione was sitting in between Remus's legs, Draco was lying down with his head in Marlene's lap, Mary was tucked neatly in between James and Peter.

Everything was right in the world.

Hermione being the responsible one told them that they needed to head back since they didn't want to piss off Rosmerta since without her they wouldn't be able to do this ever again. Or at least not until they could all apparate.

They outed the fire, and it didn't take them too long to all get back through the floo. Sirius glanced around at this little abandoned shack on the beach and smiled before he stepped into the fireplace and disappeared in a burst of green flame.

Rosmerta merely smiled and shooed them when Draco stopped to plant a firm kiss on her cheek. "Little scoundrels," she teased as she waved them off and went off to serve a different table.

Once they got back to the castle, they all hugged and said their goodbyes since they had to go in different directions to walk their girls back to their respective dorms. Remus, Hermione and Peter headed off to go back to the Gryffindor Tower, Marlene and Draco left to go down to the Dungeons, with Marlene kissing Mary happily on the cheek before coldly telling the rest of them that she may have enjoyed herself. Which left Sirius and James to walk back Mary and Riley.

The Castle was still quite quiet since a good chunk of the student body was still wandering around Hogsmeade. A shiver ran down Sirius's spine as a cold draft hit him, and he swore he heard a peal of laughter from a ways behind them. "Ickle firsties!"

Peeves, Sirius thought with a shake of his head.

They strolled past the large still life that formed the entrance to the kitchens, and Sirius had the mental note to pop in and ask the House Elves if they would kindly deliver hot chocolate to all of his friends. A few moments later they reached the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room. A pile of large barrels is stacked in a shadowy stone recess on the right-hand side of the corridor. He knows that you have to tap on a specific barrel a certain number of times, but which one he can't be sure.

Sirius glanced at his best mate, and saw that Mary was fussing at James's hair, and a second later had gently pulled his glasses off of his face so that she could clean them. She placed them back from whence they came before kissing him soundly.

"I had fun today," Riley murmured softly, and Sirius looked down at the petite girl with a fond smile.

Sirius ducked his head down and brushed his lips across her cheek, leaning back slightly so that he was looking directly into her eyes, "so did I."

He swivelled on his heel, throwing his arm over James's shoulder as they both walked away with goofy grins on their faces. Leaving two girls to lace fingers and to attempt to stifle their squeals until the wizards were out of earshot. However the girls didn't know about their heightened hearing, so when their joyous noises erupted from their mouths, the boys heard it all, and their grins only got wider.