Disclaimer: Not mine, except for OCs and the plot

Hey guys! So I'm back and it's great and I have to be honest, this fic is way longer than what's posted because I've been too lazy to post (sorry) but I'm going to fix that and starting today, I'll be more productive and share what I have written for you lovelies!

So just by the way, things are only just heating up for our favorite four Hogwarts students and there's someone mentioned in this chapter that I'd keep an eye out for later on! And keep an eye on Sirius' girlfriend too, he has a few throughout and I'll tell you now, one of them is absolutely crazy. Try and guess which one!

Read and Review!

Love, Essie

Tonight you're perfect,
I wanna fall in love with the stars in your eyes
Tonight you're perfect
I wanna fall in love but only for the night

~Tonight You're Perfect, New Politics

Dany woke up Saturday morning blissfully vision free. She'd been having the same one over and over again in variations. Seeing Sirius wounded, dying even, almost every night was really getting to her. And no matter what else changed she would always hear herself whispering the same words: I'd take away your pain. She was snapped out of her daydreaming by Marlene yelling.

"Get up you lot! It's time for Hogsmeade!" She called out and immediately girls started to roll out of bed and start to move around, trying to find clothes to wear that were warm enough to keep out the late January chill. Dany ran her hands through her hair and started to rummage through her trunk as everyone else did the same. They weren't kidding anyone; Hogsmeade trips were prime clothes-sharing events. Sure enough, the exchange started.

"Hey Dan? Can I borrow your green scarf?" Alice called out. Dany threw it to her and then turned towards Lils.

"Hey Lils you know those boots of yours that I adore?" Dany said casually. They landed at her feet moments later. "Thanks." Lily grinned in response.

"Hey Marles? How about sharing the love with that black jacket?" Lily said and Marlene threw it onto the other girl's bed with a laugh.

"So…Al you know I really like that one particular shade of lipstick, right?" Marlene said with a grin and Alice tossed the lipstick at her head.

"You might as well keep it; you're the only one that ever uses it, honestly. I hate the bloody color." Alice said and Marlene perked up.

"I love you forever, girlfriend." She said and put it on. A few minutes later, all of the girls were dressed and getting ready to leave the room and were picking up their bags and wands. Dany pushed her wand into the side of her boot and grabbed her bag. She saw Lily slip her wand into one of the inside pockets of the jacket she was wearing and Marlene and Alice both dropped theirs into their bags. So traditional, Dany thought to herself with a smile.

"Alright, everyone ready? Everyone have their wand?" Lily asked the room. She got three affirmative answers. "Let's go then." They all left the room and walked down the stairs to be met with James, Remus, and Peter. Frank apparently had yet to come downstairs.

"Hey you four. Dany you look lovely as always." James said with a grin.

"Thank you James; I'll be sure to tell your mother that you use your manners." She said with a knowing laugh. James sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness. The woman's been on me for months about being 'polite' and 'a gentleman'. It's enough to make me break out in hives." He said and Dany patted him on the arm.

"It's okay, man. We've all been there…you should have seen Rae when our mom kept hounding him about opening doors for me. I think he almost broke my nose by slamming them in my face at least three times." She said and James laughed. "Yeah it was real funny until my dad threatened to spank him if he did it again."

"Did he do it again?"

"Of course he did. And you can say a lot about my dad but he has some killer follow-through; Rae couldn't sit down comfortably for a couple days and that was the end of that." She said, recalling the day with amusement. Her brother had been less than impressed with the fact that he had been paddled at the age of eleven. James snorted. Marlene looked around curiously.

"Where's Black? It's not like him to miss an opportunity to go to Zonko's." She said and James rolled his eyes.

"He's going to Hogsmeade with Tasha Norton. He said he'd catch up with us later. He'll probably have her with him though. Oh, and Dan he said to remind you that you promised to play nice." James said with a grin. Dany rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah I know. Can we get on with the day already?" She asked and Lily was practically bouncing on her feet.

"We said we'd wait for Frank. Sorry Dan, you'll just have to wait." Remus said and Dany groaned. She knew Alice and Marlene would stay because Alice totally was in love with Frank and she'd want to see him.

"Ugh, you all are boring. Come on Dan, I'll go with you. We'll catch up with you guys later!" Lily called back as she linked arms with Dany and the two practically skipped out of the common room. Once they were out of the castle and walking towards the village, they let go of each other and set a comfortable pace.

"You knew Sirius was going with Tasha?" Lily asked questioningly. Dany nodded.

"Yeah I knew. I was in the common room when he came back from 'tutoring' her and he told me. That's when I told him I'd be nice; that might have been a mistake now that I think about…she could be a right bitch and now I'm defenseless." Dany replied with a laugh. Lily laughed but still rolled her eyes.

"I can't believe you agreed to be nice to her. That's so…considerate of you. I still think the less believable part of this is that Sirius and Tasha are a thing. She's…awfully nice." Lily said delicately. Dany knew what she was thinking.

"She is a little shallow, isn't she?" Dany giggled quietly. Lily nodded with a grin.

"She's just such a ditz! Who pretends to be bad at something just to get a guy's attention?" Lily said, finally saying what she was really thinking. Dany laughed.

"I know, right? Besides, it's just insulting to those of us who actually need help in Charms. Now everyone is going to think that I just want some guy to feel up my shirt in an empty classroom somewhere in the castle when I ask for help. There's a difference. It just makes it uncomfortable for those of us who actually suck at it." Dany said, bemoaning her own, very real, problems in the subject.

"Yeah well now you definitely can't ask Sirius for help. He'll just think that you're looking for a date; unless you are, which is cool too." Lily responded, bumping her friend's shoulder with a wink. Dany jokingly shoved her friend back.

"Yeah go ahead and laugh it up, Evans. Just don't come crying to me when you realize that you're actually deeply and madly in love with James." She retorted. Lily shut up on the subject rather quickly after that.

The two girls reached the village and Dany felt Lily shiver next to her as the girls walked closely together as to share body heat and not become separated.

"How about we hit up Honeydukes? I can feel you shivering from here, Lils." Dany said and Lily nodded gratefully at her friend. The two girls walked in and were hit with a blast of warm air. Lily sighed happily at the warmth and the smell of chocolate. Dany agreed with that assessment of the shop.

"Alright Danilynn, here's the deal: I'm not allowed to spend anymore than this" she handed Dany a handful of money, "in here. Stop me if I go crazy and remind me of that budget." Lily said seriously. Dany nodded with a smile and pocketed the money. Lily was so ridiculous about chocolate and sweets. She just couldn't help herself from trying to buy everything in sight. Dany decided that if Lily ran over budget, she'd cover it; no one deserved to be robbed of all of that joy because of money. She followed her friend around, occasionally picking up something for herself. By the time they had walked through the entire store, Lily was so far over budget that it was laughable.

"Lily…I think I can hear your pocketbook screaming from here." Dany said with a grin. Lily looked down at her basket and her face fell. Dany rolled her eyes and took it from here. "I'll pay for it. But I'm keeping that money you gave me when we walked in." She told her friend.

"Dan, you don't need to pay for my chocolate vice. That makes you an enabler, you know." She said. Dany waved a hand at her.

"Please. What's all this money good for if you can't indulge your friend's addiction to candy?" Dany told her and Lily recognized that tone as a 'this is not open to negotiation' voice. Dany handed the basket to the cashier whose eyes widened. He was a man in his mid-twenties and had a serious case of acne. All in all, not a cute boy. She saw him look at her hair; recognition flashed across his face.

"Wow, hungry?" He said with a laugh. Dany didn't laugh back.

"You have no idea how much chocolate I eat when I'm…hormonal." She said seriously. Lily snorted behind her and tried to smother her laughs. The guy's eyes widened even more and his face turned crimson. The speed that he bagged the chocolate sped up exponentially after that. Dany paid with a smile and the guy grabbed the money and almost threw the change at her. "Thank you!" She said brightly and the guy muttered something she didn't catch as they walked out.

As they walked through the door Dany handed the bag to Lily who was doubled over laughing.

"You've got to be joking. That actually just happened. You actually just said that. There's going to be a headline…ah, I can see it now 'Danilynn Masters goes on raging chocolate binges while on period'. Man, I might frame that one. It just might be worth it." Lily said through her giggles. Dany giggled too.

"His face was pretty funny, wasn't it?" Dany admitted.

"He started literally throwing things into bags and almost shoved us out the door! That was amazing; you just made my life. Ah, this is why we're friends." Lily laughed and put an arm around her as the girls walked through town, the wind whipping their hair around their faces. Dany was rather glad she had been able to make such a good start to the day.

"You know our hair probably looks crazy right now." Dany told her absently. She thought about what they probably looked like; long, bright red hair mixing with her own long white locks in the wind.

"Probably. Well at least we're not easy to miss." Lily said with a grin. Dany nodded in agreement. They would be quite hard to miss with their distinctive hair colors. "Oh! I need a new quill…because someone jammed my favorite one into a wall of the Hogwarts Express." Lily said wryly. Dany felt her face heat up.

"Sorry about that. I do feel bad about that. It's not salvageable at all?" She asked guiltily.

"No, the tip's ruined. Flat as a pancake; your magic might have impaled it into the wall but that didn't stop it from being squished into a pitiful excuse for a writing utensil." Lily said with a small grin. Dany put her hands over her face.

"I'm sorry! I just…lost control. I let my emotions get out of hand." Dany said and Lily laughed.

"It's okay, I forgive you. Besides, it wasn't expensive or anything. I'll use this opportunity to upgrade. I think it's time anyways." Lily said and they walked into Scrivenshaft's Quills to fins the perfect quill for Lily.

Lily was wandering around, looking for her ideal quill when she heard the door open. She turned around and saw it was just Marlene and Alice. She relaxed; she had, for a wild moment, thought it was Sirius and Tasha and that was an encounter that she wanted to avoid for as long as humanly possible. She had nothing against Tasha except for the fact that she was on a date with the guy Dany liked; the problem was Dany. She wouldn't fight or pull the other girl's hair, she wouldn't act out or be rude; she'd be nothing but pleasant to Tasha because she had expressly promised Sirius she'd do so. But Lily had a distinct feeling that Tasha Norton would be less than impressed with her new boyfriend's friendship with Lily's own silver-haired best friend, which was something that Lily was eager to avoid. At least for today. Alice walked over as Marlene started chatting with Dany near the door.

"Hey Lils. Looking for anything in particular?" She asked as she started examining a box of quills next to where Lily was standing.

"Not really; I just need a replacement. What about you?" Lily replied as she considered a pretty quill that looked as if it had come from an eagle. It was too long, she decided.

"Same…mine are all blunt and they're starting to make writing a little tricky. Homework's bad enough without the problem of not being able to write legibly." Alice said.

"True…speaking of homework, have you started McGonagall's essay yet? I've been trying to think of a good place to start it and I've come up with nothing." Lily asked. Alice shook her head.

"No, sorry. But you probably wouldn't want to ask me anyways; I'm dreadful at Transfiguration, I have to study way too hard for that class. Maybe Marles could help you out though." She suggested. Lily nodded; she hadn't really been expecting Alice to have actually started but she had looked flattered that Lily had bothered to ask her, which was good enough for the redhead. But she still had no idea where to start her essay.

"I might do that…what do you think about this one?" Lily said and held up a quill that was originally an owl feather. Alice nodded.

"I like it. I think I might get one too actually. You have good taste, girl." She said and Lily smiled.

"We can have matching quills. It's a bond that can never be broken." She said with a laugh. The two girls checked out together and walked back over to Dany and Marlene. Lily caught the end of their conversation.

"Marlene, you're bullshitting me. There's absolutely no way…" Dany was saying.

"No way what?" Lily said as they neared the two girls. Marlene grinned.

"Word on the street is that Brady Harris has a thing for Dan." She said quietly and Alice and Lily both gasped. Brady was a year older than them and was a keeper on Ravenclaw's Quidditch team. He was known for being quite a good player on the field and also for being really cute. Lily was quite excited for her friend if it was true. Dany groaned.

"No, not you two also…I was just telling Marlene that there's absolutely no way because what kind of guy likes a girl in the year below him?" Dany argued as they all walked out of the store. Lily shrugged.

"You don't know…besides, all guys in this school are morons if they don't like you." Alice said. And Marlene nodded. Dany rolled her eyes.

"Thanks, guys. But seriously he could date, like, anyone in the entire school. I'd even bet some guys would jump teams. I don't really see why he'd have a thing for me…I mean don't get me wrong, I don't have horrendous self-esteem issues or anything; I think I'm cute but…just not like that." She said with a shrug and Lily rolled her eyes but said nothing.

"Well, if he asks you out what are you going to say?" Alice asked excitedly. Dany thought about it for a moment.

"I don't know…I've hardly ever talked to him. That's kind of a problem." She said and Marlene waved a hand.

"Please, when you have a face and body like that, you don't need to talk." She said dreamily and the other girls, even Dany, laughed.

"Oh look, it's James. Hi James!" Dany yelled, quickly changing the subject. She practically sprinted over to James, Remus, Peter, and Frank. Lily watched her talk to them.

"Damn. Brady Harris. He's one fine specimen." She said absently and the other two nodded in agreement as Dany waved them over.

"You guys want to get lunch at the Three Broomsticks? The guys were just headed there and we do need to eat eventually." She said. They all exchanged looks and nodded.

"Sure, lead the way guys." Marlene said for them all. Lily looked at Dany as if to say 'this discussion isn't over' and Dany stuck her tongue out at her as she walked next to James towards the pub. All eight of them walked in and found a table that would fit them all comfortably, with chairs to spare even. They all talked about what they had done so far and (not shockingly) the boys had raided Zonko's to such an extent that they had to temporarily close the shop to restock the shelves. The girls almost snorted out their butterbeer through their noses as Remus told the story. James was doubled over in laughter, and Frank and Peter looked rather proud of themselves.

"Damn shame Sirius wasn't there…he would have loved that." James said almost wistfully and Alice grinned.

"Careful James, you don't want people getting the wrong idea about you and Black." She said with a wink and everyone laughed at the mortified expression.

"We're not gay thank you very much, Prewett." He said, still horrified. Dany laughed and threw a wadded up napkin at him from down the table. It hit in on the nose, making Lily laugh, despite herself.

"I don't know, I hear the way you talk about him when you haven't seen him in a few weeks; it's like you've lost your only love." She said and everyone laughed harder. Lily could have sworn she was going to break something from laughing this hard. She glanced up to check the time. Under the clock she had just examined were Sirius and Tasha. Shit, she thought to herself, well today was nice while it lasted. She accidentally caught Sirius' eye by staring and he smiled at them and James grinned and called out to his best friend.

"See what I mean?" Dany asked the table and they all laughed, except for James who hadn't heard her. Sirius and Tasha walked over. Tasha looked a little unhappy with this sudden turn of events, Lily thought. People had been stealing the empty chairs at their table leaving only two. One was next to Remus, and across from Dany, and the other was (because the world liked laughing at Lily's worries) next to Dany. Tasha took the seat next to Dany while Sirius sat next to Remus. Lily didn't miss the look Sirius gave her best friend. "Play nice," he mouthed to her and she rolled her eyes and made a face at him; Tasha hadn't noticed any of it. Dany turned to Tasha with a charming smile. Lily smirked; she was playing the poor girl so hard. It wasn't a real smile, it was the 'Minister's daughter' smile.

"So Tasha, how's your day been? Oh, I'm sorry, I'm Dany by the way." She said.

"It's been good, I don't usually go to many places in Hogsmeade so it was a nice change. We went to Zonko's, which I've never done." She said sweetly and Lily fought the urge to bang her head on the table the girl was so vanilla.

"Yeah, speaking of that, apparently they had to close for like half an hour to restock the shelves. You guys hear about that?" Sirius said suddenly to the table.

"Yeah, that was our fault. Screaming shame that you missed it. Next time." James said with a typical troublemaker grin. Sirius laughed.

"You're joking. Can anyone verify this story? Lily?" Lily shook her head in response. "Dan?"

"I have no way of knowing, I was too busy watching Lils get a replacement quill for the one I broke." She said and Lily could have sworn that Sirius' expression flickered into something much more troubled than the careless smile he had on today. It was gone before Lily could be sure of anything.

"Hey, we totally did that!" James protested. Lily saw Dany and Sirius both smirk. She knew what was coming; they were thinking the exact same thing and they both knew it. Tasha was not going to be impressed with the fact they could finish each other's sentences on occasion.

"You know James, there's a condition to account for this claim of yours." Sirius said, smiling a little.

"Yeah, they're called delusions of grandeur." Dany added on with a laugh before turning back to talk to the girl next to her. "So, what did you think about Zonko's? It was kind of overwhelming the first time, I thought."

"Yeah…there was a lot to look at. And I was kind of afraid to touch anything; I didn't know what any of it did." Tasha said. Dany nodded and Lily could tell by the way her fingers were twitching slightly that she was fighting to keep the conversation going.

"What else did you two do?" She asked and by the look on her face she was praying that someone intervened or the girl gave her a more interesting answer.

"Oh, we just walked around mainly." She said and Dany looked like she wanted to get up and smack her head into the nearest wall. Sirius apparently took mercy because he intervened.

"We went to Honeydukes, we must have been behind you two though because all of the chocolate noticeably missing." He said pointedly and Dany rolled her eyes.

"Don't look at me like that Sirius Black. I wasn't the one who bought my own weight in chocolate." She said as she pointed a finger at him. "Well technically I bought it but it's not my chocolate. Neither my waistline nor my mother would thank me very much." She said and Lily laughed. To say that Rhea was a stickler for health would be an understatement.

"Your mom's a health freak?" He asked and she nodded.

"You didn't notice on New Years that there was salad galore and no dessert? Ah, thank whatever gods may be that my dad keeps chocolate hidden in the house. He's my favorite human ever, I tell you. Except sometimes Mom finds his stash and makes him pitch it." Dany replied with a laugh. Everyone at the table laughed, thinking about Dany's parents, except for Tasha who had never met the Minister or his wife.

"I saw the Minister at school last week. Was everything okay?" Tasha asked suddenly and everyone at the table continued to talk but Lily felt everyone tense. It was obvious that she didn't really care if everything was okay; Lily suspected she was just curious as to why the Minister had taken her boyfriend out of the Great Hall and was too afraid to ask him directly. Dany ignored the tense atmosphere and easily answered.

"Yeah, I was just sick and my dad is…protective of my brother and I. The message that Professor Dumbledore sent was a little too vague for his liking and he freaked out and…overreacted. No big deal." She said with a smile. Lily was impressed with her ability to play things off, as if the Minister barging into the Great Hall was nothing out of the ordinary. "Hey Marlene, go easy on the butterbeer. I don't want to be carrying you up to castle again. You're heavier than you look and I'll be damned if Lily and I have to carry you up ten flights of stairs as Alice holds the doors open." She suddenly said and her attention was diverted from the couple. Lily looked at them as they obliviously talked. Tasha was absolutely engaged, talking with her hands, making eye contact, and laughing. Sirius didn't look nearly as interested, looking at other things in the room frequently, including the white-haired girl directly across from him. They all paid their bills and left to go back towards the castle. Marlene and Alice fell in step with her just behind the happy couple and they all watched them. Dany was in front of them with James laughing as he suddenly broke out in dance with her and spun her around before they continued walking and talking. The rest of the guys were behind Lily, Alice, and Marlene.

"He doesn't like her that much." Marlene whispered quietly. The other two girls nodded. Sirius was absently listening to his date but Lily caught how he was making no effort to look at her as he walked.

"I think he's watching Dany with James." Alice said. Lily looked at how his head was positioned and she started to notice that his eyes were trained ahead watching where James had his arm around his Godsister and she was walking close to his side. She guessed he was trying to keep her warm, as Lily could see her shivering from about ten feet away.

"No doubt. She doesn't look too happy, does she?" Lily whispered and they all looked at Tasha, who had noticed that her boyfriend was paying more attention to the girl in front of him than the one next to him. She looked irritated to say the least.

"Why yes, yes she does." Marlene said with a satisfied smirk.

"Yeah and she definitely wasn't into Sirius talking to anyone but her at the Three Broomsticks." Lily muttered.

"Looked like she bloody wanted to claw Dan's eyes out." Alice agreed.

"I love them together so much. Dany and Sirius for life." Marlene whispered. Alice nodded in agreement.

"Honestly, I talked to Potter a bit on the train when she was patching up Sirius and he loves it too. We decided that it had to happen. You should join the campaign. I may not like him, but I'll put up with him for the sake of that." Lily whispered and gestured in front of them. Marlene and Alice nodded.

"We're so in."

Tasha Norton was nice enough, Sirius decided halfway through their "date" (as he thought of it in his head). She was cute and nice, even though she wasn't that notably smart or funny of a person. He had a pretty good time with her, for most of the day and when they walked into the Three Broomsticks, he expected it to be a continuation of that same pleasant, yet somehow dull, day. Then James had waved him over and they had walked over to where all of his friends were. Tasha had mentioned to him earlier that his friends kind of scared her so before they walked over, he had said "they're nothing to worry about, besides I'm sure they'll all be on their best behavior".

Timidly she had followed him over and had decided that Remus was more intimidating than sitting next to a girl so she sat next to Dany, leaving Sirius to sit across from Dany. He smiled at her and mouthed, "Play nice," at her and she had stuck her tongue out at him in response. Tasha had looked around and Dany had quickly struck up a conversation with her. It became evident that Tasha was terrified of Dany very quickly. She had been relatively shy all day, but nothing like the two word answers she was giving Dany about her day. Sirius couldn't take the dreadfully boring conversation any longer. So he had brought up the incident at Zonko's to give both of them an excuse to stop talking. Dany laughed when James had said it was their fault and Sirius glanced at her and could tell they were thinking the same thing.

"You know James, there's a condition to account for this claim of yours." He had said knowingly.

"Yeah, they're called delusions of grandeur" Dany had laughed, finishing his sentence. Dany had gone back to trying to talk to Tasha, but she seemed even less cooperative than she had been minutes before. So finally, unable to watch this poor excuse for a conversation, Sirius talked to Dany directly. She had smiled at him gratefully for bailing her out. It was refreshing to talk to someone who could take what she dished out; no one could say Dany Masters didn't have a mouth on her. He wasn't worried about accidentally offending her, like he had been all day with Tasha. The longer he talked to Dany and they slipped back into an easy pattern of jokes the more he relaxed, despite being on his first ever date. But Dany had always been like that, the more he thought about it; she could calm him down, chill him out, even when he was so hyped or freaked that he wanted to go crazy and thought he was about to take a jump off the deep end. But that wasn't to say she was even keel; she was excitable and emotional and expressive but somehow she calmed him down.

Suddenly Tasha had mentioned Dany's father's appearance at school last week. And she came up with a lie so flawless that he half-believed it himself. Then she had turned away, telling Marlene to put the Butterbeer down and he had gone back to talking to Tasha; he was only half-listening. She was clearly excited to be there but he saw the looks that she was slipping Dany. She either didn't like her or was scared of her. Probably scared; she accidentally intimidated people based purely on her last name more than she knew.

Then they had all left and were walking back to the castle when Dany and James had started to dance and laugh and Sirius noticed how Dany's hair was the color of the snow under their feet. He responded to some question that Tasha asked him. James twirled Dany around like she was a little girl and she had played along and skipped under his arm. Then James had put an arm around her as she started to shiver. Sirius finally really listened to what Tasha was saying next to him.

"…Was a good day."

"Yeah, it was." Sirius said. He looked down at her and she looked unhappy with the whole situation right now. He thought this was weird considering that she had been perfectly happy for most of the day.

"We should do it again sometime…unless you don't want to, that is." Sirius smiled at her automatically. She was really nice, he reminded himself.

"Sure. Next time I come back I'll bring you." He said. He saw James pull his Godsister closer as she continued to shiver violently. Sirius was starting to worry that she was going to lose fingers or something, at this rate.

"So, you know her dad?" She said quietly.

"Whose? Dany's? Yeah I know him, Daniel's a good guy." Sirius said, not sure where this was going. This conversation had just taken a turn for the weirder. They had somehow gone from coming back to Hogsmeade to knowing Dany's father.

"Oh…that's nice. You know her whole family?" She said. Sirius nodded.

"Yeah…I mean I obviously know Rhaegar and I met her parents over break. Why do you ask?" He asked her suddenly. Her face turned red, not ready for the sudden question.

"Oh, um just curious is all. That whole family is kind of a mystery if you know what I mean; it's weird to talk to someone outside the family that knows them." She said evasively. Sirius thought she was probably lying to some extent but said nothing about it. He looked at her closely, trying to discern why he was interested in the Masters family when he noticed just how dark her hair was for a blonde. It was almost brown it was so dark.

"I never asked; what do your folks do?" He asked her and she smiled, glad that the attention was back on her.

"Oh, my dad crunches numbers for the Ministry in some department or another and my mom is mostly at home with my younger siblings but she works at a shop nearby sometimes for some extra money and to get away for a bit. It's a Muggle store, she doesn't mind that we're all magic but being surrounded by magic kind of freaks her out." She said easily. He suddenly felt inexplicably safe. She was a safe girl with no danger or risk. A nice, cute, half-blood girl whose parents had good, yet middle-class, jobs. She was a type of girl that anyone who had normal parents would be told to date and be happy with. She was safe and presentable. She was comfortably inside the low-risk zone. They all entered the castle and James let go of Dany in the warm air.

"Oh, that's interesting…well the fact your dad does numbers is rather dreadful, I hate math, but it's cool he works for the Ministry. I think I'd like to work there one day." He said thoughtfully and Tasha looked rather bitter for a second.

"I'm sure it won't be too hard for you with, well you know, your connections. The rest of us might have to work a bit harder though." She said. Sirius looked at her and laughed a little.

"You've got to be joking. That family works purely on a merit-based system. You get what you give and you give what you have. That's how it is with them, with all of them…they haven't stayed in power for this long by accident." He said to her. Tasha shook her head.

"Whatever you say…this is me." She said and she smiled. This was the turn-off to the Kitchens and the Hufflepuff common room. He smiled at her and before he could think too much about it, he kissed her. She kissed him back for a second then left, her face bright red. Sirius thought about that for a second and was rather disappointed by it. He heard laughter from behind him and saw Lily, Marlene, Alice, Remus, Frank, and Peter behind him. They all broke out in applause and he felt his face turn slightly red.

"Aww, it's so cute Lils!" Marlene exclaimed and the girls walked by laughing. Remus, Peter, and Frank walked up with him the rest of the way to the tower. They all said that it wasn't embarrassing at all and that the girls were just giving him a hard time. They reached the common room and the rest of his friends were sitting by the fire, laughing and talking. Lily was talking in a low voice into Dany's ear and she was listening with raised eyebrows. James was talking to Marlene and Alice and they had all shed their jackets and coats long ago. Dany said something back to Lily and they both laughed. Lily turned away from her and pulled Alice out of her conversation with James and Marlene. Sirius sat down in the circle, in the spot Lily had left open.

"How was your date?" She asked him softly. Sirius jumped at the question.

"It…it was okay, I guess." He said, trying to come up with the right word for it. 'Okay' was the best one he could think of, which was rather depressing, the more he thought about it. She smiled.

"That's good. She's a cute girl. She has pretty hair." Dany said absently. Sirius looked at her. "What? Just because I'm a straight girl doesn't mean that I can't notice if someone is cute or not. I probably notice things like that more than you do." She said.

"Bullshit." He argued. She rolled her eyes.

"Fine. I'll prove it. Did you notice how good Lily's skin looks right now? Or how about how well Alice's scarf compliments her shirt? Or how about the shade of lipstick Marlene is wearing? Did you notice that it was a good color for her?" Dany said and Sirius stared. He had no idea what she had just said.

"I have no idea what half of that means, I'm not going to lie." He said and she laughed victoriously.

"See? Girls spend more time judging each other and themselves then guys do. We have you smoked on looking at girls." She said and he raised his eyebrows.

"There's no way you all sit around judging yourselves."

"That's absolutely what girls do; they do it, I do it, we all do it. We can't help but think we're the ugly duckling of the group." She said with a shrug. "Such is life though, I suppose." He raised his eyebrows. Dany was exceptionally pretty and so was Lily. Marlene and Alice weren't unattractive either. There really wasn't an ugly one in that group of girls; it really was more a competition of who stood out the most.

"Dany, I promise you that you're not ugly. None of you are. That's just ridiculous that you all do that." He told her and she looked flattered but nevertheless shrugged.

"Thanks…but I don't think I'm ugly, I think I'm alright honestly, but it's not about being ugly, it's about being the least pretty. There's a difference. But still, thank you." She said with a smile. "But anyways, back to the original point, she's a cute girl. She seems…nice, but I don't think she likes me much. But whatever, she's not my girlfriend." She said blowing off the fact that his girlfriend didn't like her.

"Why don't you think she likes you?" He asked and she laughed, throwing her head back, the light from the fire catching on her hair so it seemed to almost glow like a halo.

"You seriously missed the fact that she was glaring holes into the back of my head on the way back to the castle? She might as well have told me 'die bitch die' to my face. But that doesn't matter, really. I can handle the hatred of one girl. She definitely likes you though." She said.

"Yeah, I like her I think. She just…she's kind of boring sometimes, to be honest." He admitted. She smiled at him softly.

"You could probably use some boring in your life, honestly. Better her and a boring relationship than someone else and something out-of-control. All of our lives are too out-of-control as it is. Someone needs to be a little stable around here." She said earnestly and he nodded.

"That's true…I just didn't think I'd ever date someone so, well, ordinary." He told her and he meant it. He had never really thought about a relationship but he always assumed that it would be extraordinary in some aspect.

"That's how life is…it never ends up like you expect it to. Dad always said that life is what happens when you're not looking…I think he stole that from someone though." She said wryly. "Oh, and Sirius? Don't think that everyone's as ordinary as they look at first. I was just a brown-haired little kid when we met. I looked pretty ordinary and I was the Minister's daughter; don't let looks deceive you." She said before getting up and leaving for her room. Sirius watched her go and he realized what about Tasha had been bothering him since they had run into his friends. She seemed plain and ordinary in comparison to his best friend's brilliant and exceptional Godsister. The truth was that her blonde hair was dull next to the white hair that had just left the common room.

James was worried about Dany when they were walking back to the castle, she had been shivering intensely, more so than usual. When she had willingly let him wrap an arm around her and pull her into his side, he knew that she was freezing, sick, or both. He also noticed the looks that Tasha was shooting at his Godsister. Even at thirteen and fourteen, girls were still jealous bitches James thought to himself. He hadn't missed how Sirius had looked at Dany, right in front of his girlfriend and he'd be willing to bet his life that Tasha hadn't missed it either. They were now walking up the stairs to the common room and were now talking easily about their families.

"Hey, I'm just saying that diabetes is a definite possibility with all of that chocolate floating around your house." James informed her and Dany rolled her eyes.

"You're just jealous my dad will tell me where he keeps his stash. I know Charlie's kept that his own personal secret since, like, forever." She retorted. James had to admit she was right. Rhea Masters wasn't the only health freak in their families; Dorea Potter was as stringent as they came about her own, and her family's, health. It was well known that Charlie kept a stash of chocolate somewhere either in the house or at work, but in all twenty-some years of marriage, his mother had never been able to find it; tragically, neither had James.

"Sounds like a house divided over there." James only half-joked. It really did seem like there were clear and unabashed teams in the Minister's house sometimes.

"Nah, this time it's everyone against Mom…even Rae isn't listening to her on this whole 'healthy foods only' crap. He says that he's a growing boy and needs sugar to maintain his energy levels or some bullshit. Truth is he just likes eating enough for a family of four." Dany said with a laugh. "Then again, he always has. I think his first words were 'more ham please'." James snorted at that. Sounded like the younger, much less dignified Rhaegar that he remembered from his childhood.

Recently, he had noticed the older boy's attempt to be more like his father; he was becoming more intent on grades and being 'polite' than anything else. James personally thought it was a lost cause, trying to be like Daniel; he had always been too much like their mother to truly emanate the Minister. He never shared his thoughts with anyone, but he always thought that the youngest of the family, Dany, would make a much better leader. He never shared his thoughts on this, even with Dany; she would take poorly to the idea that her brother couldn't do something. Even at fourteen, she still greatly looked up to him.

"I'll be sure to ask him about that next time I see him…speaking of, when's spring break?" James asked, referring to the new weeklong break in the school year that Dumbledore had instated last school year; he had insisted that the children go home to see their parents as many times a year as possible due to the precarious nature of the war. Everyone had been more than thrilled, to say the least.

"I'm not sure…sometime in March I think. Late March maybe? Early April? Somewhere in there." Dany said as they entered the common room. She got out of her coat and sat down on the floor next to the couch.

"I've got to say, I think this new break is the best thing Dumbledore has done so far." James said and Dany nodded in agreement. It was definitely a welcome reprieve from school, a month or so before exams started up. Soon, Lily, Alice, and Marlene walked in laughing about something. They all sat down near James and Dany and Marlene clarified what exactly they were giggling over.

"So Sirius just kissed Tasha Norton and it was hilarious. She was so embarrassed I thought her face was going to catch fire it was so red. And afterwards, you should have seen his face! It was a combo of 'what have I done' and 'that was anti-climatic'. It was a sight to see. Really, I'd say it was a shame you missed it, but I'm sure it'll happen again. Sooner rather than later." Marlene laughed and James couldn't help but laugh too. He noticed that Lily started whispering to Dany and Dany shook her head and something in return. As soon as she did, Lily turned around and James saw the rest of his friends walk into the common room. They were all talking and Sirius didn't seem out of the ordinary at all. He sat down next to Dany and she said something to him and they started talking quietly. James started talking to Alice and Marlene as an attempt to give his friends some privacy in their conversation. Marlene and Alice had identical looks of mischief on their faces.

"So James…Lily tells us that you two are campaigning for…a certain objective." Alice said, clearly choosing her words carefully. James raised his eyebrows. Trust girls not to be able to keep secrets from their friends.

"Hey don't worry, we're not going to tell her. We want in. Honestly, he's not on my list of favorite people but she is. And they make each other happy. And I'm a hopeless romantic at heart." Marlene said quietly. James nodded.

"Well, welcome to Mission Impossible." He told them and they laughed. Just then, Lily extracted Alice from the conversation and Marlene continued to chat with James.

"So, be straight with me; was it actually you guys who made Zonko's close?" She said with a grin. He nodded.

"It really was…we had to send Peter back to the castle with the spoils right after; we couldn't carry it all around town all day." He said and she laughed. James looked at her; in another world, he could really like Marlene. She was pretty, nice, funny, and smart as a whip too. Except he just couldn't get over Lily, not right now at least.

"Poor Peter, always the pack mule." She said with no sympathy. Peter wasn't on her list of favorite people either. Dany stood up with a final word to Sirius and went upstairs to go to bed. James nudged Marlene and she looked at Sirius, where he was quite obviously watching her walk upstairs. Except he wasn't looking at anything guys typically look at, he wasn't looking at her butt, he was looking at the back of her head, at her hair. Marlene smiled a little at him as if to say 'damn, this needs to happen'. James nodded. James checked the time and caught Remus' eye.

"Well, guys I think we're going to turn in." Remus said and all of the guys stood up and wished the girls a good night. They all climbed the stairs to their room and sat down on the floor. It was time to work on the map.

"Alright…where did we leave off? Near Flitwick's room, right?" Remus asked. James nodded and Sirius pulled his wand out ad Remus extracted a large book from under his bed and flipped through it until he found the right page. James sighed. This thing better be damn worth all this work.