Author's Note:

I have mentioned multiple times about Sirius having a role on the Hogwarts Board of Governors and I wanted to show that role. I want him to do some good there. As for the members, it is only known that Lucius Malfoy was a member so I just added others myself — used names from the Sacred Twenty- Eight and people I felt would be worthwhile to be on the board.

A few surprises here as well. And don't worry, I promise the thing you are all waiting for — it's coming!

Reviews and Comments: To Guest: Yes, I do love the Beatles. They are awesome. To cha-chris: These small pieces of positive thoughts and ideas on Draco, how will they influence him? That is the question. I like to keep you guessing. To Guest: Draco has not been redeemed no. Andromeda definitely went to the school and was like you know what, he's my nephew, he's coming to Christmas lol. She wasn't going to take no for an answer. Thank you! I'm glad you liked my little bit of Harry and Zee. They needed to bond a little and yes, eventually she will be around more. To alix33: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is part of the list as it's on the Sgt Pepper album. Thank you for saying Andromeda offering Draco her home always was nice as well as the stories she shared about his parents. I'm glad you enjoyed them!

Thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER NINETY-THREE:

The One Where Sirius Actually Gets A Job

After dinner, the snowball fight commenced.

Remus tugged Tonks around the side of the house to where they had shared their first kiss and pinned her against the wall to kiss her deeply.

Tonks wrapped her arms around him with a happy sigh. "They're going to notice we're missing."

He smirked and kissed her softly. "I know. I just wanted to give you your gift away from prying eyes." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the square velvet box. "Happy Christmas, Nymphadora."

Tonks stared at it in surprise, carefully untying the ribbon as she opened the lid and saw the necklace there. A thin gold chain with a heart-shaped blood red pendant the size of a baby's fist dangling from it sat in the box.

"It's beautiful!"

Remus smiled, his eyes unsure as he took it from the box. "I had it made for you." She loosened her scarf and turned so that he could tie it around her neck.

The moment the pendant nestled between her breasts, she could feel the warmth of it, the pulsation, and the beat.

"What is that?"

Remus took her hand and placed it on his chest over his heart. His eyes on hers, wary and uncertain. Tonks only stared at him for a moment and then she realized the necklace held his heartbeat and her eyes widened.

"Remus… is this…"

He nodded and gently brushed her hair away from her face. "It holds a piece of my magic and with that comes a piece of my heart. It's an old fashioned idea, but an old friend of mine, Adrian, mentioned that it's the gift that one should give to their mate."

"Your mate?" she asked with a smirk on her face. "Is that what I am? Have I become your property, then?"

Remus kissed her deeply and she could feel the necklace vibrating with his increased heartbeat. "If anything, Nymphadora, I am yours. Completely yours." He adjusted her scarf and nipped lightly at her lips. "Shall we return to the fight then?" he asked, extending his hand out for her.

Tonks nodded and clasped her gloved hand in his, the warmth of his heartbeat and the warmth of his magic against her skin. His mate, she thought with a smile. Nothing sounded better to her ears.

They definitely had some things to talk about, she thought, but she wasn't going to push him. She touched the necklace, the pulsing beat spreading warmth throughout her, his mate, she thought, and she couldn't keep the smile off of her face.

~ ASC ~

Harry hugged Andromeda, Ted, and Tonks goodbye after the snowball fight, smirking at the stunned look on Draco's face when Andromeda pulled him close for a tight hug, kissing his cheek.

"You must come back and visit us, whenever you'd like," Andromeda insisted, hugging him again. "You are always welcome here, Draco."

Draco nodded, smiling kindly at her. "Er, thanks. It was a nice Christmas."

Sirius slapped a hand on Draco's shoulder. "You're welcome to stay with Harry and I for the duration of the holidays or here with Andy and Ted. You're not obligated to return back to school."

Draco nodded. "Um, thanks, but I think I'll go back." He looked alarmed when Andromeda hugged him again before he grabbed a handful of Floo powder. "Thanks. Bye."

Then he was gone and Andromeda slid an arm around her husband's waist, snuggling into his embrace. "Do you think that he'll come back to visit?"

Ted kissed the top of her head. "I think you gave him a lot to think about, Dromeda."

Sirius smiled at them. "We're going to head home. Thanks for a lovely dinner."

They waved goodbye and used the Floo to get back to Black Cottage. Harry wasn't sure what to think of Draco having spent Christmas with them. He had seemed to enjoy himself, but had also held himself rather aloof. He supposed it must have been weird to be with a family that he had never really met before.

The rest of the holidays were rather uneventful. Harry helped Sirius work on the Adler, adding the last coat of paint and perfecting the Gryffindor colours on the bike. It looked sharp and Harry grinned at their hard work.

"Uncle Sirius?"

"Hmm?" Sirius asked, dropping his paint brush in the bucket to soak before he would use the charm to cleanse them.

"Maybe this summer, do you think that I could learn to ride one of your bikes?"

Sirius turned to smirk at him. He remembered how Harry had loved that mini motorbike he had boughten him years ago. He had gotten almost two years out of it before he had outgrown it. He had wondered if his godson would have any desire to ride the real bikes when he grew up.

"I can't see why not," he said with a smile. "If you promise to work hard and keep up your grades for the rest of the term, I'll teach you how to ride this summer."

Harry grinned widely. "Deal."

~ ASC ~

Tonks was stretched out on the sofa in her living room as she watched Remus. He was bent over the coffee table, giving her a wonderful and delectable view of his behind as he attempted to search through the pile of books he had plopped there a few days earlier.

They had been discussing Defence Against the Dark Arts and Tonks had mentioned that one of her professors, specifically the one from sixth year, had been the best professor that she'd had on the subject. She had been a retired Auror.

Remus had then decided that it was time to find some suitable books for Harry to start learning some actual defence. He was tired of listening to how incompetent Lockhart was and he wanted his nephew to actually utilize his skills.

"Harry's really bright when he takes the time," Remus was going on as Tonks tried to pull her attention back to what he was saying. The look of his arse in the denim was enough to make her knickers dampen as she played with the necklace at her neck, Remus' heartbeat pulsing in her hand. "I just thought that if I could find some really great books, I could even teach him a few things myself if necessary." He found a book that seemed interesting enough and tugged it from the pile gleefully, turning to sit next to Tonks.

His eyebrow rose slightly when he saw her lick her lips, her mouth slightly parted.

"What?"

Tonks merely moved to straddle him, wrapping her arms around his neck. "My sexy professor, wiggling his tightly clad arse in front of my face and then looking completely flummoxed to discover that I want him."

Remus smiled at her. "For the last time, I'm not a professor."

"Mmm," she said, kissing his neck. "You were Harry's teacher and we both know you are still taking the time to teach him again, to make sure that he's learning."

Remus, still holding the book, dropped it onto the couch next to them. "That's my responsibility as a parent, it doesn't make me a professor."

"Uh-huh," Tonks said, nipping at his bottom lip and eliciting a soft groan from him. The necklace around her neck pulsed and she knew that his heart was racing. "Why don't you teach me something new?"

"You are a certified Auror, you hardly need me to teach you anything," Remus said with a smirk.

Tonks nipped at his earlobe, her hand sliding over his shoulder and down his chest, kneading softly. "No, I'm sure there's something you want to teach me, something you want me to do to you, perhaps?" She rocked herself over him as she spoke.

Remus' breath hitched and she grinned wickedly as his heart sped up. "I wish I could, but I have something tonight; I… I promised Sirius. I'm afraid that I have to get going actually."

He carefully lifted her off of him and stood up, leaning down to kiss her softly.

Tonks pouted. "I suppose, if Sirius has to claim you."

He smiled. "We made plans last week, I'm sorry."

"Where are you troublemakers off too?"

"Oh, you know, just going to get a drink or two, chat is all. Just us, no women."

Tonks smiled, standing up and kissing him. "When you leave, come stay the rest of the night with me."

"Er, well — we're usually out until dawn," Remus said, looking for a quick excuse.

Tonks kissed his chin and smiled. "So, come at dawn."

Remus only kissed her quickly. "I'll see. Bye, Dora."

Tonks watched him hurry out the door to Apparate and she sighed. It hurt to know that he had just lied to her and the part that hurt the most was that he clearly had no intention of coming clean any time soon. She had thought when he had given her the necklace it meant that he was going to tell her.

She wrapped her arms around herself, moving to look out the window. She stood there for the longest time, watching the sun set until she could see the outline of the moon starting to rise. She couldn't quite stop the chill from dancing along her spine at the sight of it. She had started to suspect what he was keeping from her and tonight was only solidifying her thoughts.

Let him be safe, she whispered.

Just let him be safe tonight.

~ ASC ~

The first week back at school, Harry felt like the holidays had basically not even happened. People were still whispering about him and snickering behind his back. The only thing that made him happy was that his friends clearly supported him.

Having Fred and George around definitely helped as well. The twins had taken it upon themselves to loudly mock Harry whenever he was around: Asking him if he had enjoyed his spot of tea with Slytherin's monster, or if he wanted to nip down to the Chamber for a snack. The laughter that followed this mocking helped Harry realize that not everyone in the school hated him and thought he was guilty of such a heinous crime.

He had kept his word as well and hadn't told anyone about spending Christmas Day with Draco. Draco himself had seemed a bit withdrawn, hardly mocking anyone anymore, but only staying close to Blaise or Theo with Crabbe and Goyle still wandering behind him rather minion-like.

But two things had changed.

First was Lockhart.

Harry hadn't imagined it was possible, but the man had truly become an even worse teacher than before Christmas. He started his first class off by telling them all of the attacks would be stopped soon as he was personally looking into it. Then he proceeded to spend thirty minutes telling them about how he had recently been voted to win Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award for potentially the sixth time in a row and showed them the poses he used for the photographer over Christmas break. Then he had told them it was time to learn some important jinxes. He listed off twelve really interesting sounding ones, attempted to show them the first one — which failed — as he dropped his wand and only succeeded in shooting red sparks at Lavender and setting her notes on fire.

Class was then cancelled as Lockhart had to take Lavender to the hospital wing since her hands had been singed by the red sparks.

Harry merely wrote down the names of the twelve jinxes and decided to learn them himself. He said as much to Hermione who expressed an immediate interest in learning with him.

The second thing that had changed was Ginny.

Harry had thought that going home for Christmas might have helped her get her old energy back and to become her old self again, but it seemed as if she had become even more withdrawn and less like the girl whose friendship he valued than before. He spent the first few days back from the holidays just watching her, to see if he could figure out why she was so withdrawn. She would always brighten when Fred or George came by to tease her or to check in on her, but the moment that they were gone, she would withdraw into herself again.

The only time that Harry saw any of the fire she normally had was when Percy threatened to write home if she didn't smarten up.

It was the first weekend after the holidays now and Harry had left Ron and Hermione bickering over their Charms homework. He was determined to find Ginny and try to get her to talk to him about what was wrong. He found her in an alcove in the back of the library, curled up on the window ledge. Her cloak was wrapped around her legs and she was writing furiously in the tiny black diary that she had been carrying around the entire school year.

Harry hopped up onto the ledge next to her, startling her out of her writing. "Hey, Gin."

She nodded at him, closing the book before her. "Hi, Harry."

"How was your Christmas?"

She shrugged. "It was fine. Bill and Charlie both came home."

"That's nice," he told her, nodding at the diary. "Writing your life story in there?"

She blushed. "It's a diary, Harry, which means it is full of my private thoughts and secrets."

Harry grinned at her. "I didn't know that we had secrets."

Ginny sighed. "That's not… of course we both have secrets."

Harry only raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm just worried about you. I know that you're tired of hearing that from Percy, but he's not the only one. You've been so quiet and withdrawn this year. I hardly ever even see you with Luna anymore."

"You've only spoken to Luna twice since she started at Hogwarts!"

Harry flushed in response to that. "I'm sorry, that's not intentional on my part, it's just that I don't really see her around. At least you're in Gryffindor with me." He elbowed her lightly and the diary slipped off of her lap. Harry's quick Quidditch reflexes had him snatching it before it fell to the ground.

His curiosity got the best of him and he glanced down at the book, which had opened when he had caught it, expecting to see Ginny's neat writing, but instead frowned as every page was completely blank.

"What, are you writing in invisible ink or something?"

Ginny attempted to snatch it back from him, but when she touched the diary, pain shot through his scar so intensely that he immediately let go and Ginny, expecting more of a fight, fell back and smacked her head against the stone.

"Ow!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening as she watched Harry hold a hand to his forehead. "Why are you hurting? I'm the one who smacked my head."

But Harry wasn't listening to her now. He held his hand over his scar, the intensity of the pain fading, but it had felt like someone had taken a white hot poker and placed it over his scar. He could almost still feel the sizzle of it.

"Harry?"

Harry turned to look at her, his hand dropping from his forehead. "What is that book, Ginny?"

"It's — my diary," she said quickly.

Harry stared at her, shifting closer to her on the window ledge. "Why is it blank?"

"It's… not," she said, staring at him now. "Tom keeps my secrets hidden."

"Tom?"

Ginny's eyes widened in alarm. "It's just the name of my diary."

Harry wrenched the book from her grasp again, ignoring her protests, his eyes finding the tiny gold letters etched on the leather that said: Tom Marvolo Riddle. He held the diary tightly in his hand for a moment, but there was no pain from it.

"Harry? Can I please have my diary back?"

Harry handed her the book, his eyes still on it. "Was that the previous owner of the diary? Tom Riddle?"

Ginny nodded, accepting the book from him. "I guess so. The book was blank, when I got it."

"When did you start writing it in it?"

"A few days before I came to school. I wrote about how nervous I was and how excited I was feeling at the prospect of coming to Hogwarts."

"And?" Harry prompted.

Ginny shrugged. "And the diary keeps my secrets, Harry." She shoved the book into her bag and hopped off of the window ledge. "And I'm fine, stop pestering me about it."

Harry watched her storm off and he put a hand on his scar, the lingering pain still echoing on his head. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he was starting to wonder if the previous owner of the diary was doing more than keeping Ginny's secrets.

He stayed on the ledge a few more minutes until the pain in his scar had subsided to a dull lingering ache and then he made his way up to the Owlery. He found Hedwig quickly, offering her treats and praise as she hooted happily at him and then he sat down by the window to write Sirius a letter.

Uncle Sirius,

Sometimes I have this dream where I'm in your old house and this locket makes my scar hurt more than I can possibly explain. Its like a burning pain, like someone is holding a white hot poker to my head, and it's so painful that I can practically hear the sizzle of my skin from the heat of the flame; almost feel the burn.

Today, that pain became more than just a dream.

I was talking to Ginny and she has this diary that she's been writing in all year. She dropped it and I attempted to catch it and she tried to take it away from me. The moment both of our hands clasped around the leather, it was like this sharp pain in my head, directly on my scar. But then it was gone; as if it had never been. This happened once before last year too when Quirrell was drinking the blood of a unicorn in the Forbidden Forest; a sharp pain and then it was gone. I don't know what to make of it.

I thought it was strange. Do you reckon all of the Chamber of Secrets stuff is making me crack up?

Love,

Harry

PS — Any news from the Governors on Lockhart?

He carefully sealed the letter and sent it along with Hedwig, but he wasn't sure if writing the words made him feel any better.

~ ASC ~

Sirius was sitting in one of the conference rooms in the Wizengamot Administrative Services Department in the Ministry of Magic doing his best not to roll his eyes. Lucius Malfoy was once again trying to convince the governors that Dumbledore should be removed from the school if these attacks weren't stopped.

John Matthias, one of the elder wizards on the council only stared at him. "For the last time, Lord Malfoy, removing Dumbledore from the school would be the worst decision that we could make. He's been through this before, he's a powerful wizard and he will find out who is behind this."

Bernice Caulder scowled. "Lord Black, you had a new topic that you wanted to talk about? Perhaps we could move onto that."

Sirius nodded, sitting up a bit straighter in his seat and leaning forward. "I want to talk about Gilderoy Lockhart."

Josephine Fawley let out a girlish giggle. "I heard that he's doing quite wonderful as a teacher. Started a duelling club for the students and everything."

Sirius didn't bother to hide his eye roll. "He's a git." He sighed. "Talking to my son and hearing about what he's been teaching them is unacceptable. He may be a best-selling author, but he's completely incompetent as a teacher. Lucius, has your son said anything to contradict my statement?"

Lucius' blue eyes met his. "Draco has mentioned in passing that Defence Against the Dark Arts is a worthless class."

"It is not a worthless class," Sirius insisted. "In fact, it's one of the most important classes that our children should be attending. It's about how to deal with the world, how to defend one's self, how to prepare for a life in the magical world. Something that Lockhart is very ill placed to be doing. The man is vain and self-serving. He only cares about his status as the hottest celebrity and he isn't teaching them anything about Defence Against the Dark Arts."

"What is he teaching them then?" Matthias asked.

"The students were made to purchase his entire works. They have been assigned to read them which granted, there is some defence in his works, but he then tests them on their knowledge of him not the subject at hand." Sirius said, reaching into the folder he brought to tug out Harry's latest test. "This is my son's last defence test, tell me how any of this is relevant to the teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Fawley accepted the paper, picking up the glasses from around her neck and perching them on the end of her long nose as she began to read aloud. "In Gadding with Ghouls, what hair care charm worked best to keep one looking good when ghoul fighting? When fighting a werewolf in Wanderings with Werewolves, what colour did Gilderoy Lockhart say was his favourite? What kind of shampoo does Gilderoy Lockhart love the most? In what book, does Gilderoy Lockhart tell the reader the best way to get out a pesky stain? InYear With a Yeti, what does Gilderoy Lockhart say the villagers thought of his smile?" She flipped through the test paper to the end. "There are fifty questions on this test and the last one reads: What is Gilderoy Lockhart's greatest ambition?"

"Good Lord… this is a school test?" Lucretia Dettweiler exclaimed, her eyes wide.

Sirius nodded. "My son has told me that his homework has consisted of writing poems and limericks to explain how Lockhart was successful at his tasks. The first day of class, he introduced Cornish Pixies. The Pixies stole his wand and threw it out the window and Lockhart hid in his office, leaving the students to deal with the mayhem of rounding up the newly released troublemakers. This seems to be the closest they have gotten to actually studying the subject at hand."

Lucius' eyebrow rose at that. "I do remember Draco mentioning that."

"My daughter has been complaining about his teaching methods too, but she also spends a great deal of her time praising his work," Julius Abbott said, his eyes on Sirius.

"Daughter being the appropriate word, Julius," Augusta Longbottom interrupted. "She fancies him."

"On top of this," Sirius continued, smirking at Mrs Longbottom for her comment. "He attempted to perform a healing charm on my son's arm after a Quidditch injury and instead of mending the bone, he removed all thirty-three bones from Harry's arm. He's completely incompetent and he needs to be removed from the school — not only for the educational well being of our children, but also for their safety — as he's clearly a menace."

Matthias tapped his fingers on the table, a thoughtful look on his crinkled face. "Lockhart was the only candidate that came forward this year. It is getting harder and harder to find someone willing to take on the task of teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts. No one has wanted the post since Galatea Merrythought retired back in 1945. We can bring this to Dumbledore's attention of course, but ultimately as Headmaster, he gets the final say in who teaches in his school."

Sirius nodded. "Let me speak with him. I have a few ideas on the subject."

Caulder smiled at him. "I think that's an excellent idea, Lord Black. You can let us know what he thinks at the next meeting. Perhaps Lord Malfoy can attend the meeting with you?"

Sirius glanced over at Lucius. "Sure."

Lucius nodded in his direction.

Octavius Greengrass folded his hands in front of him. "Lord Black, we have decided that tonight will be the vote on your last suggested amendment to the school curriculum. If you remember, the way we make changes to the educational system is through democracy, but we do insist that ten out of the twelve of us vote yes for the change to come into affect."

Lucius scowled. "Are you telling me that you are actually considering taking this ex convict's advice on adding Muggle Studies as a compulsory class?"

"Not just Muggle Studies, Lucius, but adding a class on Life in the Magical World for students who don't know about magic until receiving their Hogwarts letters," Caulder said with a smile. "I, in fact, think it is a marvellous idea and one that should have been brought forward decades ago."

Abbott nodded. "I agree. It's about time these reckless ideologies of blood status be put to an end. Learning about the background of each society will be extremely beneficial to the students and will be giving them a much rounder understanding of the world as a whole."

Fawley smiled. "Let's vote then. All in favour of making Muggle Studies compulsory for students, raise your wand."

Eleven of the twelve governors raised their wands in the air. Lucius merely scowled in response.

"Majority rules," Fawley stated. "A new curriculum will be written up concerning the introduction of Muggle Studies as a mandatory class for all students not coming from a Muggle household. Second vote. All in favour of introducing Life in the Magical World as a compulsory class for all first year students not raised in the wizarding world before attending Hogwarts, raise your wand."

The vote was unanimous.

Fawley looked very pleased and made a note on it. "Perfect. Now, Lord Bulstrode, there was something else that you wanted to add to tonight's agenda?"

Marcus Bulstrode tapped the end of his rather large nose and nodded. "I know that Lord Malfoy has mentioned it before, but I think that we do need to take a closer look at Rubeus Hagrid. He was accused of opening the Chamber of Secrets back in June of 1943 and was expelled for it. He could be doing it again."

"That's bullshit and anyone who knows Hagrid understands that," Sirius interrupted.

Elphias Doge let out a small wheezing cough before he spoke. "I agree with Sirius. The ideology of one's family status and blood is important in this situation because the students being attacked are from Muggleborn families. Hagrid is not a pureblood, why would he care if other non purebloods were at the school? I said it in '43, he should not have been expelled."

Castor Parkinson let out a snort. "Whether he is responsible or not, he is the one with the record of letting a monster into that school and it does need to be taken into consideration."

Matthias raised a hand and the table went silent. "The Chamber of Secrets was opened once more by someone in that school: Fact. There have been two students, one cat and one ghost petrified by the idea of the Chamber: Also fact. But we do not have any facts telling us that Hagrid is the man doing this and Dumbledore is very adamant that he is not responsible. Once again, I implore you that we need to trust the Headmaster to do what he deems best. In the meantime, Lucius and Sirius will meet up with Albus Dumbledore and discuss a possible solution for the Lockhart problem. Meeting adjourned."

Chatter rose up immediately and Sirius climbed to his feet, smiling at Mrs Longbottom when she stood next to him. "It's nice to see you, Lady Cumbria, er — Mrs Longbottom," he corrected at her raised brow. "How was your Christmas?"

"Very nice, thank you. Neville also spent a good portion of his holiday informing me of Lockhart's inaccuracies as a teacher. Who do you have in mind for a replacement?"

Sirius grinned at her. "Remus."

Mrs Longbottom's eyebrow rose and then she nodded. "Acceptable. Good luck with Dumbledore."

Sirius nodded as she hurried off and he turned to smile at Malfoy. "I'll send Dumbledore an owl when I get home and set up a meeting."

"Did I just hear you say that you want your friend Remus to be the professor?"

Sirius nodded. "Before you get your knickers in a twist you should know that he is more than qualified. He had the third highest grades of our year in both OWLs and NEWTs; he's patient and has always wanted to teach. He spent six years teaching my son before he went to Hogwarts and he's very intelligent. He knows what a student should be learning and he's gifted at teaching. He tutored other students from third year through to seventh year and every one of them got excellent grades due to his teaching."

Lucius merely raised an eyebrow. "He does sound immensely better than Lockhart."

"Exactly," Sirius said with a grin. "I can only hope Dumbledore agrees."

"Let me know when the meeting will be."

Sirius nodded. "I will. Goodnight, Lucius."

"Goodnight," he said and headed out of the room.

Sirius grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair, checking his watch. It was only a little after eight so he Apparated straight to Zee's cottage, knocking on the door.

Zee opened the door with a smile. She was in her favourite oversized sweater in a deep blue that hung off her left shoulder and reached just above her knee. She had thick black woollen socks on bunched above the ankles.

"Hi," he said, leaning down to kiss her softly.

Zee stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, smirking against his lips when he kicked the door closed behind him and scooped her up into his arms. He carried her over to the sofa, sitting down with her on top of him, his lips still meeting hers.

"How did the meeting go?" she asked, making herself comfortable on his lap.

Sirius smiled and gently brushed a dark curl away from her face. "Better than I thought."

He quickly explained about the new amendments to the curriculum and about how he was planning to try to get Remus to be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"Wow, it sounds like this was one of the most successful meetings you've had."

He nodded, his hand sliding up her smooth leg in concentric circles behind her knee. "It was. How was your day?"

"Oh, it was fine," she said with a smile. "Tripp and I were dealing with some Grindylows that someone let loose in a Muggle indoor swimming pool. A few memory charms had to be made and the Aurors came in to investigate."

"Tripp, huh?"

Zee grinned and kissed his neck. "Yes, my partner."

"I don't like him."

She chuckled. "You haven't even met him."

"Maybe I should."

"Are you jealous?"

"No," he said in annoyance and then he grinned. "Maybe a little. Is he still trying to make a move on you?"

"Sirius," she said, smiling at him. "I am a very skilled witch who is more than capable of taking care of herself."

Sirius smiled. "I know it. It's what I like about you."

Zee chuckled. "Ever the charmer." She kissed his lips again and then smiled. "There's actually something that I've been meaning to speak to you about."

"About Tripp?"

She laughed. "No, not that prat. About my parents."

His eyebrow rose. "Merlin, is it time already?"

"I think it is. You did introduce me to your de facto mother after all."

He sighed. "What am I supposed to say when they ask how we met? Well, her panther tried to attack me and then I fucked her on my kitchen counter."

Zee laughed. "We will very much leave that second part out, thank you."

Sirius grinned and nipped at her lips. "Should I tell them about how when I asked you to be my girlfriend you had just pleasured the fuck out of me with your mouth?"

"You are incorrigible! I take it back, you can't meet them!"

"Excellent, see I've won."

Zee kissed him. "Papa is busy at work now anyway, but he and Mama will be coming back in April for my birthday and to move into the house in Scotland for a bit. Papa always takes a full month off in the middle of April to May as his holiday each year. Maybe then, we can take an evening and have dinner with them?"

"I suppose maybe we could do that as it is still months away," he said.

Zee kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

Sirius slid his hand up her thigh, revelling in the smooth skin there and grinning when he found the silk boxer shorts that she was wearing. "In the meantime, why don't we see what happens if I let my fingers slip under these shorts?"

Her breath hitched as his fingers slid up the shorts and stroked over her. "Yes, why don't we?"

End Author's Notes:

My list of who is on the Hogwarts Board of Governors as mentioned above:

1. Sirius Black
2. Julius Abbott (uncle of Hannah)
3. Josephine Fawley
4. John Matthias (Head of Board of Governors)
5. Bernice Caulder
6. Castor Parkinson (father of Pansy)
7. Octavius Greengrass (father of Gareth, Daphne, Astoria)
8. Lucius Malfoy (father of Draco)
9. Elphias Doge
10. Augusta Longbottom (grandmother of Neville)
11. Marcus Bulstrode (father of Millicent)
12. Lucretia Dettweiler

Thank you for reading and please review!