Author's Note:

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the lyrics to Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back in Town"; Warrant's "Cherry Pie" nor to ACDC's "You Shook Me All Night Long."

Also, this is a bit of some steamy filth which I think we were due for or maybe just me LOL — definitely Saz as I know how much she loves it ;)

Thank you for agreeing with me on the love potion scene. I think people romanticize it too much. It is of course good for some things, as we all love the scene where the smell of it makes us realize who or what we are attracted to, which usually reveals the person you are attracted to. I always got the impression myself, don't know if it's just my opinion or not, but if you were to dose someone with a love potion who was already in love with you, they would act completely normal because you can't create something that's already there. I wanted Romilda to be punished for what she did because it didn't happen in the books and that was because the issue with Ron almost dying clearly took precedence, as it should have. But I wanted to take a stand against it here and I agree — date-rape can happen to men just as easily as to women and should be addressed as such.

Reviews and Comments: To Leaf Ranger: Thank you for saying you like the direction I took with the love potion, that was exactly what I wanted to stress. Michael did seem a bit peeved, though he hid it for now. As to Corner, there is a tinge of jealousy there which we will see more of. I always imagined Michael in my mind as effortlessly charming and adorable, with a pinch of sweetness that could turn in an instant if you didn't agree with his views. Ginny will see his true colours soon enough. As to Hermione and Viktor — I love writing them! I'm so glad you guys are all enjoying their blossoming romance as much as I am. Thank you! To MinervaMcGee: Romilda definitely got what she deserved! Thank you! To iKingAnomalyII: Thank you! I agree, a love potion is like an Imperius in a bottle. Ginny definitely pulled Harry out a little bit, not that he noticed lol. Thank you! To aj613: Thanks for loving my Hermione and Viktor and my Harry and Ginny as well as my friendship moments with Harry and Hermione.

To DetroitNate: Slow-burn Hinny, more like a glacial thaw — LMAO — this is kind of accurate, but in my defence, the story did start off when Harry was five years old, so that should be taken into consideration! Thank you! To scrappy8: Thank you! To Obscure-Reference-Girl: Thank you for loving ASC to pieces! It's fun to explore other things like Viktor and Hermione. Thanks for loving my slow-burn Harry and Ginny! To PolarWriter95: It would have been just desserts for Romilda if Harry had forced himself on her, I agree, however, I didn't want Harry to lose his virginity that way and that would be something Harry would be forced to live with, knowing that he raped someone against their will (though she definitely would have been willing) and no matter the fact that he had been drugged, I don't think that would have been something that he could ever get over. I just wanted Snape to warn her that it could have happened if Harry hadn't possessed such a strong will. Thank you! To pesymistrz: Thank you! Ron is of course, Harry's best friend, he just has a few best friends in this story and I suppose I have made him and Ginny a bit closer, but Ron has always been there for him. It was Ron and Neville who stayed with him all night to make sure that he was okay. It was he and Ron together who dealt with Crouch. Ginny's presence did affect Harry and I like to imagine that if one had a strong enough will, and wasn't consistently being re-dosed, they could break out of the trance of the love potion much like the Imperius Curse, but in this instance — Ginny's hair. Thank you!

To cha-chris: As far as I remember, Romilda wasn't punished in the books at all and I wanted to rectify that. Thank you! To supersandman86: Love potions are definitely no laughing matter. Ginny definitely noticed something was off about Harry. Thank you! To smallwjil: Thank you! To Sasha Starr: Thank you! To Guest: Ha, I'm glad you felt Harry with the birthday congratulations. I felt his awkwardness as well lol. To Faaan'Taaas'Tilique: Thank you! To geoslim21: Thanks for catching up and thanks for enjoying it! To Wolf's scream: Yes, it is the hormones talking LOL. Romy was more successful here than in canon. Thank you! To minerdude: Thanks for saying I got my point across with the love potion! Don't worry, still A LOT of ASC to go! To speedsONEandONLY: We needed some light-heartedness. Viktor did notice and he still got to see them LOL. Noticed how Ginny broke through the potion every time, eh? You think it's Ludo. Thank you! To Moony The Sheep: You think Bagman is the traitor? Thank you for loving the love potion and for Harry to be smiling again! To Steelcode: Romilda is a jerk. So glad Harry has great friends to be there for him! Thank you!

To sexinurse: Thank you! To HGRHfan35: Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed the bit with the Black Lake, it was fun to show more of his adventures. Thank you! To alix33: Billy Joel is amazing and I'm a huge fan. I even saw him in concert!Thank you! To xXMizz Alec VolturiXx: Thank you! To Guest: The love potion is a big deal and I wanted to touch upon that. I know, it will be fun for Tonks to finally be an A3 and yes, we'll see more of Remus and Tonks soon. Hinny is getting closer, but not yet. Thank you! To LordAlces: Thank you for constantly reading until you catch up! Thank you for saying ASC deserves a lot more recognition, I appreciate that! To coloredwords: I'm glad it made you laugh. Thank you! To storp930: Um, not really, no. Thank you!

To xXQueenofDragonsXx: I know, how dare she drug Harry! She is a little shit! Thank you! To krelofwerewolf: Thank you! Yes, I'm sure Harry will use his Animagus to get upstairs to the girls dorm again lol. To Bosma18: Thank you very much for saying my characters feel real and that I take the time to show that actions have consequences. I think that's very important. Thank you! To Yami_Faerie: Thank you very much for saying I handled the love potion bit well. I agree that love potions should be taken seriously and I wanted to show that. You will have to wait and see if your guess is right and ah Hinny… it has started slowly, but not yet. To odysse: Thank you and don't be embarrassed! It's always bothered me that people romanticize the potion. It can be good sometimes, but usually people are using it on people unsuspectingly and that's the problem. I'm glad you're enjoying Hermione and Krum. To Jbusby: Thanks for binge reading and saying ASC is thrilling and amazing! I hope you stick with the story until the end. There's a lot more to go! To Soveliss: Yes, tasty drama, thank you! You're excited for them to go to Bulgaria and you think more people are looking at Bagman… interesting. Thank you!

Thank you to my Beta — SilverStarwolfe for her wonderful editing skills and for the little add-on to my prank here!

Thanks to Steel for being my sounding board; always being around when I need assistance or have questions and it's very much appreciated.

My posting schedule: Once a week and sometimes on weekends.

As always, 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 for all of your continued support!

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-THREE:

The One Where Zee Seduces Sirius in the Work Shed

Ginny looked up from her seat on her bed when the dormitory door opened and Romilda came in. She had been suspended from the school for the last two weeks and seeing her come back brought a scowl to her face.

"Ready to show your face again?"

Romilda bowed her head, tears in her eyes. "I just wanted him to like me."

"There are a million other ways that you could have gotten his attention and none of them would have involved drugging him," Ginny responded, darkly. The two weeks without her around hadn't dimmed her anger at the girl one bit.

"Oh, calm down, Weasley," KJ exclaimed in annoyance as she came out of the bathroom. "So, Romy got some great snogs in, it's not like she molested him."

"And what do you call snogging someone who doesn't want to snog you, KJ?" Freya demanded, her eyes flashing in anger. "If a bloke had done that to you, you'd feel differently, wouldn't you? Just because the potion made him want her didn't mean that he actually wanted her."

Romilda moved to her bed, tossing her bag there as she began to unpack. "Look, I know what I did was wrong, okay? I've been lectured by everyone and their goddamn mother and all of the teachers will be checking my bag in every class to make sure that I'm not carrying around any substances that could harm another person. I know it was wrong, but it wasn't right for them to go after my sisters' shop either!"

Ginny merely raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't it? You got the potion from your sisters so it makes perfect sense to me. How many unsuspecting men and women have been put under a love potion brewed by your sisters, Romy?"

"Look, Ginny, I didn't return to school to have you come at me! You're not exactly innocent yourself! The whole school knows that you were responsible for attacking everyone when we were in first year!"

"Completely different circumstances," Ginny said, darkly. "And unlike you, I was found innocent of my crimes."

Romilda scoffed. "Innocent? You set a bloody Basilisk on the students and a ghost! If Harry hadn't saved your arse, you would be dead, and everyone would know that you're the real monster!"

Ginny's face flushed. "You're right, Harry did save me. He's my friend and now it's my job to make sure that he's kept safe from dangerous creatures like you!" Her eyes moved to the life sized Quidditch poster of Harry hanging on the wall across from Romilda's bed. "I'd take down that poster if I were you. After the stunt you pulled, Harry will never be yours."

Romilda glared at her. "He could have been! I just wanted to make him see how good it could be with me! I never planned on keeping him under the potion forever, but you and your nosy ginger cunt just had to butt her nose in where it didn't belong! How does Corner feel about you whoring yourself out to so many men in your life? Everyone knows your shagging Colin and that brown-haired Slytherin bloke and the way you throw yourself at Harry, you're probably doing him, too! I know you certainly wish you were!"

Ginny's face flushed. "How dare you! You don't know the first thing about me!"

"You're just jealous because Harry Potter kissed me!" she yelled, triumphantly.

Maisie jumped up to stand between the two girls, her arms outstretched. "Okay, okay, let's call a truce here. The six of us have to share a dorm for years yet. Romy, you know what you did was wrong no matter how you look at it, and Ginny is dating Michael, not those other guys."

KJ snorted. "And everyone knows that Slytherin is gay."

"I didn't realize that his sexual choices were public knowledge," Ginny stated, dryly.

KJ rolled her eyes. "I'm hardly the only one who's seen him snogging blokes around the castle. His lips have been glued to David Richardson's for over a month now. You know, that really sexy fifth year Ravenclaw with the brown hair and the nice arms? The good-looking ones are always gay."

Ginny ignored her and turned back to Romilda. "I'll agree to a truce if this one stays away from me and my friends, including Harry."

"McGonagall put a restraining charm on me. If I get more than a metre near him, I'll be pulled back and she'll be alerted."

Ginny looked pleased with this. "Good. As promises go, that doesn't mean much, but I'll take it. Harry is one of my best friends and if anyone hurts him, they will have to deal with me."

Romilda only stared back at her. "I'm staying away from him, but I won't take his poster down."

Ginny shrugged. "If you want a constant reminder of someone who you can never have, that's on you."

Imogen, who had been quiet the whole time the argument had been taking place only nodded at Romilda. "You should take it down, Romy."

Romilda glared at her. "No!"

KJ rolled her eyes and stood up, ripping the poster down from the wall and tossed it onto the bedroom floor. "Take it down, Romy. It makes you look bad to keep it."

"Haven't I been punished enough?" she wailed, angry tears in her eyes. She hopped into her bed and slammed the curtains around her so roughly that one of them fell down. Imogen simply stood up and carefully locked it back into place.

Ginny only grabbed her toiletries and headed into the bathroom, her heart still racing. She hoped that Romilda had learned her lesson because what she had done was wrong and she wasn't going to sit back and let someone hurt Harry.

Romilda came into the bathroom a few moments later, returning her soaps and shampoos to her shelf in the cupboard and Ginny didn't say anything, but she grinned to herself as an idea formed and she whistled cheerfully as she stepped into the shower, a big smile on her face.

~ ASC ~

Harry was trying not to grimace as Rita Skeeter strolled over to him in the Great Hall the following Saturday afternoon, a big smile on her face. He understood why he was doing this, but he really wished more than anything in the world that he didn't have to. But Sirius had told him that part of the deal that he had made with the editor of the Daily Prophet was for Harry to agree to give an interview about the Second Task.

When he saw Sirius and Zee come into the Great Hall and hurry towards him, relief tore through him. The last thing he wanted was to deal with Rita Skeeter by himself. Zee immediately kissed his cheek and sat on his right side as Sirius did the same, squeezing his shoulder gently from the left.

Rita Skeeter merely raised an eyebrow. "Don't want to leave young Harry alone with me?"

"No," Sirius growled. "You're not to be interviewing him without a designated adult with him."

Skeeter merely shrugged and raised her quill. "So, Harry, the Second Task is now under your belt and you are in second place, how do you feel?"

He scratched his nose. "Good, I guess."

"Just good? The other three champions are years older than you in both age and experience and yet you've managed to outsmart them? Shouldn't you be more excited?"

"I haven't outsmarted anyone," he said, his eyes on her quill suspiciously. "I've just done my best."

She nodded and her quill scratched quickly across her notepad. "Hermione Granger was pulled into the Black Lake for the task, but she was the captive for Viktor Krum, how does that make you feel? Is it true that she broke your heart?"

"It makes me feel like she deserves to be happy," he said simply making Sirius smirk. "She's not now, nor has she ever been, my girlfriend."

Skeeter nodded. "And what about the rumours circulating that you are partially responsible for the closing of Venus Copia and the criminal charges against Rhea and Regina Vane?"

"That beauty supply store was illegally selling love potions to unsuspecting patrons. I think that it's about time that the Ministry stepped in," Zee said, coldly.

Skeeter merely raised an eyebrow. "And you, Agent Zacarias, you seem to be playing a motherly role to our Mr Potter, is there more to the story?"

"No," Zee said, sternly.

Harry grinned at her before he turned back to the reporter. "Do you want to know what I did in the lake or what?"

Skeeter nodded curtly so Harry outlined what had happened to him below the surface as she recorded his events. When he was finished, she smiled, brightly. "This will be in tomorrow's paper. After the Third Task, maybe we can talk again."

"Probably not," Sirius said, glaring at her.

Once she had left, Harry let out a slow breath. "I don't actually have to talk to her again, do I?"

Sirius draped an arm over his shoulders and grinned. "Not if you don't want to. I only promised them the Second Task, not the third."

Harry looked relieved by this. "I don't want to."

Zee smiled warmly at him, reaching up to gently brush his fringe away from his face. "How are you doing since everything happened last week?

Harry grimaced. It had been two weeks since the whole Second Task followed by the love potion debacle and if he was honest, he had tried not to think about it. "All right, I guess. Romilda Vane apologized, but I just asked her to stay away from me."

"As she should have," Sirius said, darkly. "Love potions are very dangerous. Her parents were beyond furious and embarrassed when I spoke with them. They couldn't stop apologizing to me on your behalf."

Harry nodded. "I mean, I'm a little honoured that she, you know, liked me so much I guess, but… looking back on it, it was like I was in a daze and I didn't really know what I was doing. It was kind of like being under the Imperius Curse, but every time it seemed to clear, she gave me another candy, and I seemed to fall deeper."

Zee kissed his cheek. "You have incredible friends who knew that something was wrong and watched out for you."

"I know," he said with a smile.

Sirius stared at him. "Harry, it doesn't matter how much you like someone; forcing them to do anything against their will is not okay. You did nothing wrong, all right?" He pulled him close for a hug and kissed the top of his head. "You did nothing wrong."

"I know," Harry said, but hearing the words made him feel better just the same.

Sirius stood up and gestured for Harry and Zee to do the same. "Come on; let's head to Remus' suite. I want to talk to you for a minute."

Harry nodded and followed them through the castle and into Remus' suite where Remus and Tonks were both snogging on the sofa. The back of Remus' neck flushed when he saw them come in.

"How'd the interview go?" he asked as Tonks snuck in one last kiss on the side of his neck as he struggled to sit up.

Sirius shrugged. "We'll see, you know how Skeeter is." He plopped himself down into the armchair as Harry sat next to Tonks on the sofa.

Zee sat on the floor, her back leaning against Sirius' chair. "If she prints anything other than what we said, I'll be having a word with Danny."

Sirius nodded. "Good."

"So, what's going on?" Harry asked, looking between them.

Remus smiled at him. "Nothing to worry about, Harry. We just wanted to touch base on Vagina's Hard-On Hunt."

"On the — what?"

Sirius grinned. "Oh, shit, Moony, we forgot to bring him into the charm zone!"

"The what?"

Remus quickly brought Harry into the charm zone and all of the information he had already known came flooding back to him as Sirius and Remus quickly explained about the charms that they had made to prevent anyone from discovering their operation in light of recent events.

"Now, I'm kind of sad that he won't get to hear all of my cheesy innuendos. I worked hard on those!" Sirius protested.

Zee rolled her eyes. "Trust me, you'd rather not know, Harry."

He grinned at them. "So, what's going on?"

Remus scratched his chin and reached for his glass of wine off the side table. "As you know, with the TriWizard Tournament going on, there is a constant influx of people in the castle. This means that searching for the mystery Horcrux has been a lot harder than it could potentially be."

Harry nodded. "I've been looking occasionally around different rooms. I even snuck into the Restricted Section a few months back to try to see if I could stumble across one, but nothing. I mean, I guess I'm just looking for the feeling, which makes it harder. We don't even know what it is."

"Exactly," Sirius said, sighing. "It makes the search a lot more difficult. And really, sneaking into the Restricted Section? Harry, there's a professor about!"

Remus grinned. "I heard nothing."

"And a professor?" Harry asked, his eyes twinkling. "He was snogging."

Remus cleared his throat. "As it were, that's…"

"Entirely true," Tonks said with a grin, pressing a kiss to her mate's neck. "Why the Restricted Section, Harry?"

Harry looked sheepish. "I just thought because it's you know, restricted, maybe he would have hid one in there."

"It's decent logic, Harry," Zee said with a smile. "But the problem is, like you said, that none of us know what exactly, we're looking for."

"I've covered most of the empty classrooms in the castle along with the study rooms, but we still have public bathrooms and hidden rooms not to mention the Towers and closets and who knows where else to search," Remus said. "It's a large castle and a magical one at that. As we discovered with the Chamber of Secrets, there are rooms in this castle that people might not even know still exist."

Harry frowned at that. "It sounds like we're giving up."

"Absolutely not," Sirius said with a smile. "It's just that at this point, we don't have enough to go on. I would like to focus instead on the upcoming Third Task and getting you through it safely until we figure out anything else on what this Horcrux could be. Are we in agreement there?"

Harry nodded. He knew that Sirius was right. They had no idea what the Horcrux was. They didn't know what the object was that he had hidden it in and they had no idea where it was. The only lead they had was that he had hidden something somewhere in the castle. It didn't exactly make it easy to find.

"No news on what the Third Task is going to be yet?" Tonks asked.

Harry shook his head. "No. Bagman said that he would provide us with more information a few weeks before the task. Until then, I guess we just wait."

Zee smiled. "Well, until then we can keep teaching you as many defensive spells and charms as we can. I know Remus has a bit of interesting stuff lined up for Defence Club as well."

"All right, that sounds good."

"Harry, give these to your friends to read," Remus said, passing him two pieces of folded parchment. "It will bring them back into the charm zone for anything you've previously shared with them on the Horcruxes and Voldemort. After they've all read them, burn the papers, okay?"

Harry accepted the parchment and nodded. "Will do."

Sirius nodded, his eyes on his son. "Also, Easter's a bit late this year, but are you still up to coming home? Misha and Sorcha will be back in Scotland and Zee wants to have a small dinner, just the five of us, seven if Remus and Tonks decide to come?"

Harry grinned. "No, that sounds great. I do want to come home."

"Good. It's not until the middle of April, but sign up with McGonagall, okay?"

He nodded, smiling at his family. "I will."

~ ASC ~

The high pitched scream of horror that erupted from the bathroom that Sunday morning only made Ginny grin into her pillow. But she hopped out of bed, rubbing sleep from her eyes and looking around at her roommates in curiosity.

"What's going on?" she asked as a second and third scream echoed throughout their dormitory.

Romilda came running out of the bathroom, her eyes wide in horror. Her beautiful long dark hair had been cut into a bowl cut, dyed tomato red with a parted top of dark green making her look like she had a giant tomato on her head. She was spitting mad and looked ready to kill.

"You did this!" she shrieked, diving towards Ginny.

Ginny shifted out of the way. "To your hair? How? I was sleeping!"

Romilda glared at her. "The top of my head is a bloody tomato! A tomato!"

KJ snickered. "Legit, you even have a little green leaf on the top. What an atrocious cut!"

"What's that smell?" Maisie asked, holding her nose in disgust as the smell wafted into the dormitory. "Merlin, Romy, your hair smells like something died in there!"

Freya merely looked uncomfortable. "How did this happen, Romy?"

"HOW THE BLOODY HELL SHOULD I KNOW?" she screamed. "I put shampoo into my hand and washed my hair and when I came out of the shower — this is what it looked like!"

"So, someone dosed you with something without your permission?" Ginny asked innocently. "How horrible."

"You bitch!" Romilda exclaimed, shoving Ginny so hard that she fell back and landed on her bum just as McGonagall stepped into the dormitory.

"What is going on in here?" she demanded. "The entire tower can hear you and — goodness, gracious, what's happened to your head?"

Romilda snarled. "Professor, it was Ginny! She did this to me! She ruined my hair! She cut it and turned it into… I want her punished!"

"Professor, I merely said that it was tragic that someone would dose Romy with something without her permission: I never said that I did it."

McGonagall only stared at her, her lips pursed, slightly. "Well, whoever decided on this prank, Miss Vane, I can assure you, will be punished. Get dressed and come with me. Madam Pomfrey can help sort you out."

"You mean it's not permanent?"

"I hardly doubt it," McGonagall said in annoyance, pinching her nose against the smell. "But if it is, dear, I'm sure a hairstylist can do something to make it look less… er, round and fruit like."

Ginny grinned as Romilda howled in horror.

"However, you've earned yourself lunch detention with me for the rest of the week on top of your evening detentions for that physical altercation with Miss Weasley," McGonagall added as Romilda burst into tears.

"But, Professor! Look what she did to me!"

McGonagall only stared at her. "Physical violence is not prohibited, Miss Vane, nor do you have any proof that Miss Weasley is the one to have done so."

Romilda wailed in response.

Ginny couldn't stop grinning.

By lunch time, most of the school had heard what had happened to Romilda Vane. She was still in the hospital wing as Madam Pomfrey attempted to fix her hair, but Ginny knew that it would be no use. She had worked hard on her charm, mixing it into Romilda's shampoo and her hair gel before applying it. It would hold for exactly forty-eight hours and in twelve, would sprout from the tomato to a dark lime green with blood red streaks, choppy and unevenly cut as the length would grow back to normal only on one side. The smell would only get worse and if one attempted a cleaning charm, her head would waft an even more terrible smell of decay and feces. She thought it was quite ingenious.

By Tuesday morning, Romilda's hair would be back to normal except for the smell. It would linger for weeks no matter how much she washed it and would be clumpy, no matter how much she brushed it, and Ginny felt like it was a good prank to get her point across.

Colin slid onto the bench next to her as he reached for the pumpkin juice. "I got a photo of the top of her head. It took some effort, but I managed to climb into the rafters of the ceiling. She really does look like a tomato."

Ginny grinned at him. "Make sure that you get another one after dinner today as her hair should have changed again by then."

Colin nodded. "I will. It should make an interesting article on substance control."

They both looked up when McGonagall called Ginny's name and she only sighed, getting up to follow her Head of House to her office. Once the door was shut behind her, McGonagall stared her down.

"We both know that you dosed Miss Vane in whatever this charm is whether you admit to it or not," McGonagall said, carefully. "I can't say that I blame you. What Miss Vane did to Mr Potter was completely unacceptable; it violated his rights, but you dosing her with something does not make it better and is in fact still wrong."

Ginny nodded. "I admit it. I'll take detention if you think it has merit, Professor, but I stand by my prank. In my opinion she deserved a lot worse. Colin wants to use the photos to help Juliet write an article on her hair mess along with the abuses of controlled substances and I think that will be a nice wakeup call to a lot of people."

"I want to see this article before it is published, but I do rather like the idea," she admitted. She crossed her arms in front of her before she let out of a slow sigh. "I do not condone what you did and we both know that it was wrong of you. You will serve detention with me every night this week and we will not speak of it again." McGonagall adjusted her square framed glasses, her eyes on Ginny. "And five points for your restraint."

Ginny beamed in response.

~ ASC ~

Sirius had been out in the workshop for almost three hours that Sunday morning. He had lifted part of the motorbike to get underneath and work on the undercarriage of the Motosacoche M414 The physical exertion made him warm so, he had pulled off his tee shirt, angling the lights down to give him a better angle. He reached for his wand, using it to turn the music up and wiped sweat from his brow.

He was proud to say that the bike was almost done. He had refinished almost all of her in chrome and teal. She looked sharp and she looked gorgeous and fast and he was anxious to take her for a test drive. He was hoping within another month, maybe two, weather permitting, he'd be able to get her on the road and see how she ran. She was a beautiful 1929 masterpiece.

He slid out from under the bike, grinning widely. He grabbed his water from the bottle next to him and chugged it back, pouring a bit over his head to cool off. He had spent the better part of his Saturday out here working on the bike and was quite pleased to be doing something so simple again. It seemed like lately the Ministry had been monopolizing a lot of his time, not to mention the Hogwarts Board of Governors. Carthaginian wanted to add a Multicultural Club or potentially a culture class for sixth and seventh years and he thought that it sounded brilliant — he wasn't sure why he needed to have input into that. As far as he was concerned, it was her class and she could tweak the curriculum as she saw fit.

He sighed and tapped his fingers to the beat on the bike before grabbing a socket wrench and sliding back under the Motosacoche. His feet were tapping to the beat of Thin Lizzy belting out that the boys were back in town when he felt something touch his leg. He jerked slightly, but figured Marauder had found his way through the dog door. Then he felt his fly open and he slid out from under the bike in time to see her free him from the confines of his black jeans.

She was dressed comfortably as she had been lounging in the house in black tights and a long jumper. Her tongue was sticking out the side of her mouth as she grinned wickedly at him before she bent her head and licked his length in earnest.

"Well, hello to you, too," he said, gasping when she licked him again and he immediately stood at full attention.

Zee grinned wickedly at him. "My book was getting a bit on the steamy side and I thought I'd much rather be doing naughty things to do you than reading about it."

"Well, I happen to completely agree with that statement," he said, grinning back at her.

Zee tugged his jeans down, unbuttoning his black combat boots and tossing them behind her before pulling his jeans off and leaving him completely naked on the drop cloth of his workshop. She let out a small sigh of pleasure, her hands sliding up his thighs, brushing the soft hairs there. Her fingers slid over his balls, kneading softly before her lips followed, kissing and sucking, licking and pulling as he groaned her name.

"Fuck," he hissed when her tongue brushed his tip.

Zee simply smiled at him, spreading his legs wider. Her fingertip slid down and gently rocked into him as she sucked him. He was panting now, his fingers clutching her hair as he attempted to tug her up to his mouth. Zee ignored him, her tongue trailing and circling torturously slow along his length; stroking the underside, circling the base, and then sucking gently on just the tip. She slid her lips along him, taking him deep into her mouth and she hummed along with the beat of Foreigner playing on the stereo. Sirius groaned her name.

"Mmm," she moaned, slipping him from her lips to move down to lick and suck on his balls. She tugged them into her mouth, kissing one side softly, tongue stroking, then the other. "I love your cock."

Sirius groaned. "Come here," he hissed, trying to tug her up to him again. Her mouth was a dangerous weapon, he thought. No one had ever done him as good as she did and he knew that he would give her anything if she asked for it when she had him like this.

"I love the taste of your cock," she said in response as she licked his tip.

Sirius hissed in pleasure when she kissed the underside of his shaft.

"Mmm," she moaned again, smiling as she licked him.

"Come here," he demanded again, panting.

Zee shook her head, licking his tip. "Not until you finish in my mouth."

Then she held his length in her hand and tugged just enough as she took his balls into her mouth to suck.

"Fuck!" Sirius exclaimed when she engulfed him in her hot mouth again. "You — fuck!"

She sucked him slowly, aching slow, and it drove him mad as she casually stroked a thumb across his balls. Her fingers slid beneath his sack and into him, lazily moving along his bum in a maddening fashion. She let go with a loud smacking sound, licking him slowly in long, sensuous strokes, circling the tip as he groaned her name, panting. She bent her head and blew gently on his balls, kissing them softly; leaving hot open-mouth kisses along the underside of his shaft.

And when she finally took him back into her mouth, she sucked him hard and he came. He kept his eyes on her, watching as her eyes glinted in satisfaction as he emptied himself.

When he finally finished, she "mmmed" against him as she slid him out of her mouth. Her lips trailed along him, licking him before she kissed his balls and then up his chest, sucking on the side of his neck.

"You are a goddess, Zahira," Sirius said with a grin.

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "I love you."

Sirius wrapped his arms around her, snuggling her up against him. He felt immensely satisfied and happy at the moment. "I fucking love you, too."

Zee kissed him softly. "We should have a nap right here."

He merely raised an eyebrow. "I could sleep for a week right now." He kissed her softly. "But first I think it's my turn to taste," he murmured, tugging her jumper over her head kissing the swell of her breasts as Warrant began to play on the stereo. "Even the music agrees with me. Cool drink of water such a sweet surprise; tastes so good makes a grown man cry," he sang in her ear, licking up the side of her neck. "Sweet cherry pie."

Zee grinned when he licked his lips. "I am most definitely going to take you up on that offer, but first, a letter arrived for you from Greece."

"Good, been waiting to hear back from Xander about when he and Thea are coming to London."

Zee nodded. "Just to visit?"

"Among other things," he said, slipping his hand down the front of her tights and into her knickers. "Mmm, you feel so good. So, hot. So, ready for me."

Zee smiled at him, her head falling back a little when his fingers stroked her. "Sirius…"

Sirius wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "Sweet cherry pie."

"We both know that cherry has been gone for ages."

He vanished her clothes, sliding down lower and spreading her legs as he chuckled. His tongue found her clit and he rolled it around his tongue before he pulled away and grinned at her. "Found the cherry pit."

"Crude," she said, gripping his hair. "Keep going."

He grinned. "Zahira, I don't plan on stopping."

And then his mouth was on her again and she arched her hips towards him, crying out in pleasure as he worked her over. She was panting his name, begging him when he slid up to kiss her breasts and slid into her. Zee rolled them so that she was on top and she rode him hard and fast, his hands squeezing and rubbing her breasts as he sat up to lick a nipple and she came hard. She screamed his name as the orgasm ripped through her and he followed a moment later, his face buried between her breasts.

They collapsed against each other, both sweaty and breathing heavily. The music had changed to AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" making Sirius chuckle.

"You did fucking shake me," he said with a grin, kissing the side of her neck.

Zee snuggled into him. "Working double time on the seduction line."

"She was one of a kind, she's just mine all mine," he sang back with a grin, kissing her deeply.

Zee kissed down his chest. "I'm starving. Let's go inside and scrounge up some lunch."

Sirius smirked at her. "You just ate my cock like a woman dying of thirst, now you want food?"

She smacked him. "I need protein!" Sirius opened his mouth to respond to that and she covered it with her hand. "Don't even say it, you prat. Real protein."

She crawled to her knees to stand up and he spanked her, making her shout in surprise. He grinned at her as he watched her bum wiggle. "All right, you naughty minx, come on, I'll make you a sandwich."

"Thank you," she said with a grin, leaning down and kissing him.

Sirius stood up, tugging her to her feet and up against him before he kissed her again. "But we're eating naked."

"No, we're not," she said.

Sirius only wiggled his eyebrows at her.

She laughed as he lifted her up into his arms and carried her from the workshop to their cottage, both of them completely naked and grinning at each other.

Thirty minutes later, Zee was wearing Sirius' jumper and he was in sweats as they curled on the sofa under a big blanket each with a ham sandwich on a plate with some freshly sliced pickles as Sirius opened the letter from Greece. Zee licked mustard off her thumb and he leaned in to lick it from her lips making her laugh.

"It's from Thea," he said with a smile, turning back to the letter in his hand. "You know, the one you thought was my wife."

Zee grinned. "Have I mentioned how happy I am that you aren't married to her?"

Sirius slid his hand along her thigh and under the jumper to rest on her hip. "So am I." He kissed her softly. "Thea and I are much better suited as friends than we ever were together. Plus, she's disgustingly happily married with kids." He shook the letter out and began to read aloud.

Sirius,

It was so lovely to hear back from you so quickly. Xander and I are both anxious to speak to you about this dark magical matter. He's feeling pretty confident about being able to remove it safely, but he does want to go over all of the details with you concerning it.

Xander and I will be coming to London for the last two weeks of March. We will be staying with my parents in London, but we'd very much like to spend time with you to discuss the above. Maybe we could have dinner and I can finally officially meet your lovely Zee again? Have I told you how happy I am that you FINALLY asked her to move in with you? Anyone can see that she makes you incredibly happy. I look forward to meeting her again.

Please write back and let us know what day works best for you. We'll be arriving in London on the 20th of March. Look forward to hearing from you.

Love,

Thea

Zee kissed his cheek. "For the record, you make me incredibly happy, too."

Sirius smiled at her. "We should invite them here for dinner that week. With Remus and Tonks as well."

She nodded. "Sure. What's this thing about dark magic?"

Sirius let out a slow sigh. "Only Rem knows," he admitted. "I—I didn't want to say anything. I didn't want to get my hopes up let alone anyone else's but… Xander's a neuro-healer."

Zee frowned. "A neuro-healer, why would you —" she gasped, her brown eyes widening in shock. "Harry!"

Sirius nodded. "He thinks that he can remove it, Zee."

Zee stared at him, her face terrified. "Without hurting him?"

"Seventy-five percent chance of safely removing it. There are risks and potential complications. That's what he wants to come here and talk about. Rem and I spoke about it back in January when I first heard from him saying that he thought it was possible. We want to hear all of the risks, all of the pros and cons and once we understand it and figure out what he wants to do, we need to tell Harry. This will ultimately be Harry's decision, not ours."

Zee swallowed. "Siri… how long have you…"

"I asked him over a year ago," he admitted. "But I didn't tell anyone. Remember I said at one of the meetings of FUVP that I had something in the works? I didn't want to say anything on it until I had a legitimate medical opinion; until I had something to back up my idea, and Xander provided me with that. He's been studying scans of Harry's brain for months and… he just doesn't know what it is."

"You want to bring him into the operation?"

Sirius nodded. "He and Thea both. They might be able to provide some good insight into a few things, but mostly… I can't tell them what it really is without bringing them in."

"Will it affect how he plans to remove it?"

"I don't know," he told her, honestly. "That's why I need to talk to him."

Zee rested her head over his heart, snuggling against him. "If this works… Harry would truly be free of that thing."

He nodded and tilted her head up to look into her eyes. "But he's going to know that we all lied to him. I promised him that I would never lie to him, Zahira, and this summer… after he had that dream… I lied to his face."

"You were scared and you didn't want to horrify him with this news and —"

"— And I still fucking lied to him. He's not going to take that lying down."

"No, he's not," she said, quietly. "But we'll be here for him. All of us and we'll deal with it together. Let's hear what Xander has to say first."

He nodded and kissed her lips. "All right." He tossed the letter onto the coffee table. "Let's talk about something else. I can't think about that right now."

Zee kissed his neck, sliding her hands down his chest. "Want to go have shower sex?"

He grinned and slapped her butt. "You're quite in the mood today, aren't you?" When she only kissed his neck he grinned. "Race you. Loser has to cook dinner."

Zee jumped to her feet, slipping her hand down the front of his sweats and stroking him firmly. "Hope you know what you're going to make."

He groaned when she let him go and ran up the stairs. He beat her to the door and by the time they got in the shower, he had her pinned against the wall and he slipped into her. He rode her hard against the tiles as her cries echoed in the bathroom. Once they finally found clothes, they voted it was a tie, and went out to dinner instead.

It was a pretty great Sunday over all, he thought.

~ ASC ~

The following Tuesday afternoon, Harry took his seat in Ancient Runes class stifling a yawn. He had been starving at lunch and had eaten so much that he now felt like he was ready to settle into a slight food coma. He watched Professor Babbling move to the front of the class as she discussed their newest project. She wanted them to decipher three passages from an ancient text detailing the magical properties of Runes. The passages themselves were written in a mix of Celtic, Babylonian, and Phoenician and they needed to break apart every word to discover what the passage was trying to say while explaining which Rune was used and why.

She divided the class into partners. They would have two weeks to finish the three passages and hand in the work. Harry wrote down the due date and accepted the passages from her and was surprised when he was paired with Mandy Brocklehurst.

She smiled kindly at him as he moved to join her at her desk at the back of the classroom. "Hi, Harry."

"Hi," he said, sitting down. "I guess we're to be partners here. Mandy, right?"

She nodded. "Amanda, but everyone calls me Mandy."

"I'm just Harry," he said, making her grin.

She had a pretty smile, he thought.

She opened her textbook and snuck a look at him under her lashes. "I heard what happened to you after the Second Task. I know that you probably don't want to talk about it, but I just wanted to say that I'm sorry it happened to you. No one should ever try to force someone to be in love with them."

Harry nodded, his face heating. "Er, thanks."

Mandy smiled and moved her chair closer to him so that they could both look over the passage. "Um, I admit, I'm better with the Babylonian Runes than I am with the Celtic ones."

"That works, I think that I have the Celtic ones down a bit better myself. It sounds like we'll make a good team then."

Mandy smiled warmly at him, adjusting the glasses on her nose. "I think so too."

They spent the last ten minutes of class discussing how to tackle the passages and agreed to meet in the study hall on the first floor after dinner to get started. Harry said goodbye to her and grabbed his books, heading towards the dungeons for Double Potions.

It unnerved him a little that most of the school seemed to be aware of what had happened between him and Romilda Vane. But as the news of Venus Copia being investigated and ultimately closed down had been released to the public, the subject of love potions had been heavily on everyone's minds. He had only snogged her (quite a lot, really), but he still felt like he had been violated in some way. The whole thing left him feeling rather uneasy.

His friends had been amazing and had done nothing to make him feel bad about being duped by the girl. Ginny had said something harsh about her motives and Hermione had hinted that Ginny had in fact been behind the prank on Romilda's hair, but Harry chose to ignore it. He didn't want to think about Romilda Vane at all.

Except that it was all he could think about.

It was strange to him that the only times he was even remotely lucid when under the love potion was when Ginny was in the room. He remembered that things seemed clearer when she was present, but he didn't know why. No, he knew why, he thought bitterly.

His feelings for her had been changing and as much as he had been doing his best to deny it, he knew that it was true. Just like he knew that he was jealous of Michael Corner. Sure, he had pretended not to be. He had told himself and others that it was just because he thought that she could do better, but he had been lying to himself. The sheer amount of dreams he'd had told him otherwise. He wanted to be the one to hold her and to kiss her and every time he thought about it, he hated himself.

They were friends.

She was his first ever friend and she was happy. She had a boyfriend, who she obviously adored, and she would always be his friend as long as he didn't do anything to screw it up; like do something stupid and tell her that he fancied her after he had already told her that they were only friends and could be nothing more. The thought of losing her was too much and he didn't want to risk it.

He had been spending a lot of time lately contemplating girls and relationships in general. He watched Hermione smile and flirt with Viktor as he complimented her in both English and Bulgarian; as they discussed complex Transfiguration methods and she eagerly looked at his own school work in an attempt to learn more. He watched the way Viktor listened attentively as she spoke about house elves, giving her feedback about what he thought was a good choice and what wasn't. He watched Hermione fall for him more and more every day.

Then he would look to Ron. He and Lavender had pretty much been inseparable since the ball, but they didn't seem to talk much. Mostly Lavender sat sideways on his lap as they snogged, occasionally coming up for air to join in on the conversation.

Dean and Parvati were still over and done with. Dean still wouldn't share why it was that they had broken up either, but he seemed to have made peace with it for the most part.

Will and Seamus seemed more in love with each other every day. Will was always eating with them or bringing Seamus a little token: Candy, a flower, once a charmed butterfly. Seamus would treat him the same; sharing kisses in the halls and sneaking into Will's bed during the night and vice versa.

Ginny and Michael seemed very much the same. They were always holding hands. Michael would just watch her with a soft smile on his face and when he kissed her to interrupt her she would laugh and kiss him back.

They were all happy.

Seeing Ginny happy only made him push his own thoughts aside. It was a crush he had on her and he knew that now. He loved her, of course he did; she had been his first ever friend and they had shared a lot together. She was one of his best friends and she knew him well, but it didn't mean that he was in love with her. She was beautiful and he knew that and sometimes he found himself losing focus when her hair was in his view, losing himself in that red and gold, but he was hardly in love with her. It was a crush nothing more and after everything that had happened with Romilda Vane and the Second Task, the last thing that he wanted to do was ruin the relationship that they did have.

She was too important.

He just needed to forget about seeing her in a different light and just concentrate on the upcoming Third Task.

She couldn't know.

It would be better for both of them.

~ ASC ~

Ginny was talking to Colin about his latest photographs in the office of the Hogwarts Herald. The newsroom was situated just down from the hospital wing and Colin was quite proud to have his own little desk.

"Did you see Romilda?"

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "No, but her hair should be normal by now, except for the stench," she added with a wicked grin.

"Madam Pomfrey couldn't get the stench out. She tried every spell she could, but her hair still smelt like shit so she shaved her head."

Ginny's mouth dropped open. "She's bald?"

"Smoother than a baby's bottom," Colin said, grinning widely.

She giggled. "Oh my! I didn't expect that to happen!"

Colin smirked at her. "Please, you knew that vain bitch, pun intended, wouldn't go around with her hair smelling like human feces for weeks. Besides, Pomfrey will give her a hair growing potion and within a month, she'll be normal looking again."

Ginny grinned and chuckled. "I should be ashamed, but she deserves it."

"Agreed," Colin told her, crossing his arms in front of him. "Which is part of the reason why I want to use the photos of her as part of the article."

"I just don't know if talking to Harry is a good idea, Colin."

"I just think that it would be an important article to publish, Ginny, but Harry needs to be part of it. And I won't write about him without his approval, but everyone knows now anyway, that he was slipped a love potion. It's not invading his privacy when it's not a secret anymore."

She frowned at him. "I'm not saying it is, I'm just saying that I think Harry would rather forget about it."

Hands covered her eyes from behind and lips touched her ear as they whispered, "Guess who?"

"Well, I hope Michael or someone is about to be hexed."

He grinned and spun her around. "It's me. What are you two getting up to in here?"

"Colin thinks that there should be an article on the misuses of love potions and he thinks that I should be the one to convince Harry to be interviewed by one of the journalists. I don't think that he'll agree to a direct interview."

Michael frowned. "Look, I get it, Potter was dosed and all that, but like, do we still have to be on about it? I certainly wouldn't be complaining if some gorgeous bird wanted to get in my knickers so badly. He needs to lighten up."

Ginny slapped her hands on his chest when he attempted to lean in for a kiss. "You're missing the entire point! It's the fact that she took his choice away from him! That's the problem!"

He shrugged. "I just don't see it as an issue. I think it's a compliment. She liked him ergo love potion."

Ginny's eyes flashed, dangerously. "You're joking?"

Michael shook his head. "No."

Ginny grabbed his hand. "Come with me."

Michael rolled his eyes as Ginny pulled him from the newsroom and down the hall into an empty classroom. "Snogging time?"

Ginny glared at him. "Do you honestly think that? That because Romilda liked Harry, dosing him with a love potion and taking away his choice was a perfectly acceptable way to try and get his attention?"

"Look, I'm not saying that what she did was right. I'm just saying that Potter came out of it relatively unscathed. He snogged a pretty girl. Situation done and over with. Let it go."

"Unscathed?" Ginny exclaimed. "Michael, he hurt his friends in an attempt to get to her! That's not something that we can just ignore. Putting a love spell on someone is extremely dangerous because love is dangerous. He could have been hurt!"

Michael tugged her close by her wrist. "I get it. You're worried about what could have happened. But he's fine. Potter's always bloody fine."

"I want to make sure that he stays fine, is that too much to ask?"

Michael kissed her forehead. "I love that about you, Ginny, but Potter's your friend and I'm your boyfriend. I think it's about time that you start showing me some attention."

"I show you attention," she said. "Even when you're acting like a jealous git."

"I don't act jealous. I just think Potter needs to cool it and realize that you have a boyfriend."

"He's aware of that."

"Is he? You're the person he would miss the most, Ginny!"

"Because we're friends. I've told you this a hundred times!"

"Well, I'm friends with Su Li, but you seem to get annoyed when we spend time together."

"She's your ex-girlfriend!"

Michael smirked at her. "So? We're just friends now."

Ginny glared at him. "You're insufferable!"

"And you love it," he said, tugging her close for a quick kiss. "Kiss me."

Ginny did, enjoying his soft lips on hers, but she was still a bit annoyed with him. "Just so you know, you're not off the hook."

He grinned and kissed her. "I know. Kiss me anyway, I'm cute."

She snorted. "Oh, really?"

But she didn't protest when he pulled her down into his lap and kissed her. She just kissed him back.

~ ASC ~

Harry found himself fascinated by the blue tint in the lenses of her glasses. It was the second time that they were meeting for their project and he kept tilting his head to watch the colour shift in her lenses; watching it reflect her light brown hair and it wasn't until her hand grabbed his that he was jolted back to attention.

"Harry, I have been talking for the last five minutes and I know that you haven't heard a single word I've said."

"Er, that's not true," he said quickly, trying to focus back on what she had just said.

"Okay, then who is the witch who deciphered the first Celtic Runes?"

"Er —"

Mandy only smiled triumphantly at him. "Ha!"

He smiled at her. "I'm sorry. I know that there's no excuse for it, but my mind is wandering today. Then I was distracted by the blue tint in your lenses."

Mandy looked surprised by this and tugged her thick brown frames off. "It just helps with the bright lights. I only wear them when I'm doing schoolwork."

"They look nice on you," he said making her blush. "I just can't focus right now and am easily distracted."

"Well, thanks," she told him, slipping her frames back on her face. "But we need to get back to this passage. The first section is clearly Celtic, as I was saying, and I believe that it deals with the warrior queen. But the next part goes on about some important wizard from Mesopotamia. I have no clue how they are connected or maybe I'm just translating wrong. Celtic Runes are not my strong suit."

Her hands clenched her hair as she bit her lip.

He grinned at her. "Hey, do you like ice cream?"

Mandy glanced up at him, her lips slightly parted in surprise. "What? Who doesn't like ice cream?"

"Some strange people out there, you know."

She smiled and he grinned back.

"You have a beautiful smile. Let's take a break and get some ice cream and then we'll come back and dive into this. Deal?"

"Deal." Mandy said making him smile.

He stood up and offered his hand, surprising her again. She placed her hand in his and let him lead her to the kitchens. He ordered up an ice cream bar and the house elves were only too happy to oblige. Five minutes later, they had a large assortment to choose from.

Mandy licked mint chocolate chip off of her spoon as she grinned at him. "This was a great idea, Harry."

He grinned and nodded, digging into his own bowl, one scoop of orange sherbet, one of birthday cake, and one of chocolate chip cookie dough.

"I have a few of them every once in a while," he admitted with a smile.

"You know, you're different than I expected," she told him. "I mean, you're famous so, I guess I just always thought that you'd be more aloof and well celebrity-like."

"Uncle Sirius always made sure that my feet were firmly planted on the ground when it came to the whole famous thing. I didn't even truly understand how famous I was until I came to Hogwarts. And now, being a champion, I think this year emphasized the fame a lot more, you know."

"You've done really well. I admit, when your name was chosen I thought badly of you. Cedric had already been chosen to be champion for Hogwarts and we were all angry, but... that was stupid of me; of all of us. After the First Task when I saw you fly off against the dragon, I could see how dangerous this competition really was. Hannah told me that Cedric even told off a few people for booing you. He said that as far as he is concerned, you're both Hogwarts Champions and no matter who comes out on top in the end, it's a win for the school."

"He really said that?" Harry asked in surprise.

Mandy nodded. "He said that you had been forced into the competition against your will and were just trying to make it through the tasks and then when you saved Ginny Weasley and that Delacour girl... that was so brave, Harry!"

The back of his neck flushed. "Well, thanks. It was a little stupid, though. In my head I thought that if Fleur didn't get down there to save her, she would die. I should have known that Dumbledore would make sure all of the captives were safe. I overreacted."

Mandy smiled at him, licking the mint chocolate off the back of her spoon. "You were under the Black Lake dealing with all sorts of magical creatures down there, it makes sense. I would have overacted, too!"

He smiled back. "Thanks, Mandy."

She nodded, turning her attention back to her ice cream. "This was a good idea, Harry. I needed a break. I love Ancient Runes, but sometimes I tend to get too focused on them and I tend to lose myself and then I stop making sense."

"No problem. Hermione is quite like that herself."

"I can't believe that she's dating Viktor Krum," Mandy said with a grin. "I mean, she's so smart and pretty, yeah, but he's so much older, you know? I always thought that she should have been in my house; she has the brains for a Ravenclaw."

"I sometimes think she should be in Ravenclaw too, but she's a Gryffindor, trust me. Viktor's a nice bloke and he's pretty taken with her, and she is fifteen since her birthday is in September," Harry said, finishing up his ice cream. "Plus it's entertaining to watch him talk Quidditch with her. She has zero interest in the sport."

Mandy chuckled. "I can relate to that."

"You don't like Quidditch?" he asked, his eyes wide in shock. "Why not?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It's just flying around playing catch, I don't see what all the fuss is about."

Harry's mouth dropped open.

She giggled. "I do know how good of a player you are though. Everyone talks about it and after you outflew a dragon, people have been discussing nothing else."

She pulled out her hair tie and her light brown hair tumbled to her shoulders. Harry watched as she carefully braided the front away from her face and then pulled it back into a ballerina bun at the base of her neck as she spoke.

"Are we ready to get back to Ancient Runes?"

"As ready as ever," he said, standing up. "Lead the way, m'lady."

She did and Harry found his eyes shifting down to the sway of her hips before he caught himself. She was really very pretty, he thought. He grinned at her when she turned to see if he was coming and hurried up next to her.

They had a project to work on.