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Love, Essie

My girlfriend's bitchin' 'cause I always sleep in
She's always screamin' when she's calling her friend
She's kinda hot though
Yeah, she's kinda hot though

My shrink is telling me I got crazy dreams
She's also saying I got low self-esteem
She's kinda hot though
Yeah, she's kinda hot though

She put me on meds, she won't get out of my head
She's kinda hot though

~She's Kinda Hot, 5 Seconds of Summer

Dany was watching the game with interest when she had seen the hit Third year Maya had taken to her shoulder. She had heard Lily gasp next to her and had felt her grab her hand.

"That poor girl, she's probably out for the game. She'll be so disappointed, she loves Quidditch; I help her with Ancient Runes sometimes and it's all she talks about." Remus remarked and Dany nodded.

"It's probably dislocated at the least, if it's not broken." Dany said and they all watched the team talk down on the ground. Maya seemed to be arguing with Toby, the captain, and Dany saw Sirius intervene for a second. "What's he doing?" Dany asked her redheaded friend. Lily looked over to where Sirius had his hands on Maya's injured shoulder. Suddenly, an unmistakable look of pain crossed her face but then she nodded and Toby clapped Sirius on the shoulder before they all got back in the air.

"Did he just set her shoulder on the sidelines? Can he even do that?" Lily asked disbelievingly and Remus shrugged.

"I think so, just as long as Madam Pomfrey doesn't have to get involved, she can keep going. Sirius is a lot of things and the hospital matron isn't one of them." Remus said and the girls nodded absently, now intently watching the game and hoping for no more injuries. The game ended soon after and all four girls relaxed, reassured that there had been no more injuries. Dany, Lily, Marlene, Alice, Remus, Frank, and Peter all started walking up to the castle and were happily talking about the upcoming party. There was always a party after a game. If they won it was called a celebration and if they lost it was called going down in a blaze of glory; either way, there was always a party of some sorts.

"Alright, you boys have gotta own up, who gets the booze from Hogsmeade? I know you know who it is." Alice was saying and Dany was listening, interested in the answer but more concerned about Kenzie, who was walking in front of them by a good ten or twenty feet and was angrily talking about something to her friends. Dany nudged the girls.

"Sorry to interrupt but does that look really bad to anyone else?" She said and they all looked at where Kenzie was bitching about something or another.

"Yeah that's bad news…I think we'll go find Sirius and give him a heads up that his girlfriend's pissed off; I mean she's always pissed off but this looks bad. See you girls up there." Remus said and the three guys broke away to find their Quidditch playing friends. The four girls continued to walk towards the castle, trying to catch what Kenzie was mad about.

"Can any of you hear what she's saying? I've got nothing." Marlene asked and the other three shook their heads; she was just out of earshot.

"Hold on, I think she just said something about an aunt or something…maybe its just some family drama that she's talking about." Lily said with a shrug and the other girls didn't have anything better than that as far as guesses went. They entered the castle and conversation turned back to the party.

"I don't care what you think but I'm telling you that Sirius and James are somehow involved with getting the booze into the tower." Alice said and Dany had to admit that it sounded very much like something they would be more than happy to take part in.

"No, I'm in agreement with that. If anyone likes breaking the rules, it's them." Lily said and everyone came to a consensus on that just as a pair of hands grabbed Dany from behind. She automatically screamed, loud enough for people to look back at her. She turned around and saw it was just James who had grabbed her; he was with the other four guys and he and Sirius both looked exceptionally sweaty and happy.

"Thanks James, just give me a heart attack next time and get it over with." She said.

"Damn, Dan. I didn't realize that you were so jumpy." He laughed and she shoved his arm.

"Yes you did; you've been doing that to me since forever. It's cruel of you to do that, play on my lifetime of being told that people would really like to abduct me. You know as well as I do that I've been hearing that practically since the womb. I think when my dad talked to my mom's stomach when she was pregnant he would say that. Funnily enough, I've never actually been held hostage." She joked and James, Remus, Peter, and Frank all chuckled but she noticed that Sirius' smiled slipped a little into a more concerned look, before anyone else could notice the look vanished and he was back to being excited over the win.

"Alright, maybe I did know that, but it's still fun. Besides, we gave you what you wanted, didn't we? We both had nice, clean, games. See we're both okay." James said and Dany raised an eyebrow and walked between him and Sirius as James slung an arm over her shoulder.

"I see that…you both smell by the way." She said and they both grinned.

"That's the smell of victory, Masters." Sirius laughed and she rolled her eyes.

"Well victory smells like sweat, grass, testosterone, and leather then. So would one of you like to explain the emergency medical care on the sidelines?" She asked and James grinned.

"Well it was what it looked like. Maya had a dislocated shoulder and Sirius put it back into place because she wanted to keep playing. It was bloody brilliant." James said and clapped Sirius on the back.

"It wasn't that big of a deal, James. It's not that hard to do, you just have to be strong enough. Like no offense Dan, I don't think you could probably do it just because you're probably not physically strong enough unless you're like an undercover weightlifter." He said, eyeing her nonexistent muscles.

"No, I'm not an undercover athlete. I mean I know it looks like I run marathons and bench-press bears in my free time but I'm really more of a read books and do yoga type of girl." She said with a grin and both guys rolled their eyes but still laughed.

"You do yoga?" James asked, clearly amused.

"What? It's good for stress management; it calms me down. Don't you judge me James Potter." She said and Sirius laughed.

"Does that mean you're like super flexible or something?" Sirius asked and she shrugged.

"Not really, I mean I can touch my toes but I can't tie myself in a knot, if that's what you mean." She said as they reached the portrait hole. "Alright, I'm going to go change for the party because now I smell like James' sweat. Bye, boys." She said with a wave and walked to her room. She walked by Kenzie on her way up and the other girl glared at her harshly before passing her. Dany rolled her eyes; Kenzie was in a constant state of hating her. She walked in her room and the other three girls were already there.

"Dan! Good you're here, we need to start getting ready for the party!" Marlene exclaimed and Dany nodded.

"Yeah, sure thing except I walked here between James and Sirius and now I smell like teenage boy sweat and questionable life choices. I'm going to go shower." She said and walked into the bathroom. She pulled off her gross clothes from the game and got in the shower. She hadn't been kidding about them smelling; for a sport you're mostly sitting during, Quidditch players always inevitably ended up unbelievably sweaty. She'd been at the Potter's before and her dad, Charlie, James, and Rae would come back into the house just absolutely dripping with sweat; she never understood how it took so much effort to fly on a broom. She got out of the shower and threw her dirty clothes in the hamper before walking back out of the bathroom, wrapped in her towel. The other girls were getting ready for the party. The party clothes usually consisted of heels of some sort; Dany's feet were already aching in anticipation.

"Dan, I really think that you should do wedges and jeans; you're short enough that you can pull it off." Marlene said and Dany nodded and decided that it was better than a dress and heels; pants were her friends. She found a pair of dark skinny jeans and some tall-ish wedges. She found a top that she was happy with and waited for the others to get ready. Lily and Marlene went for dresses and Alice followed her lead and put on jeans. They all walked down to the party and saw that it was already mostly in full swing in the common room. There was music blaring and people were dancing and talking and drinking.

The four girls got butterbeers, well Marlene and Alice got firewhiskey but Dany and Lily held off; Lily hated having a hangover and Dany generally avoided liquor in public places where she could start blabbering family secrets; because that's what came out of her mouth when she was drunk: important things that she should be taking with her to the grave. And her feelings just started flying out of her mouth when she was drunk. She had drunkenly started crying onto Lily one night about the war when the girls had all been sitting around their room last year, taking shots as a dare. It hadn't been as fun as they had originally anticipated and needless to say, everyone tried to keep her sober in public places.

"Hey girls." Said a voice behind Lily and Dany, as Marlene and Alice had wandered off on their own about half an hour ago. It was James with Sirius and Remus. "Dan, you look flawless as always." James said and hugged his Godsister.

"Aw, thank you James. You certainly smell better than you did a few hours ago. Both of you do." She said pointedly towards Sirius, who merely looked amused.

"Oh yeah, yeah…Lily you look really nice too." He said and Dany relaxed, now that James hadn't said anything moronic to who was essentially the love of his life, at least at this point. Lily looked flattered but also like she wasn't sure what to say, as she was obviously expecting him to say something completely off-color.

"Oh, um…thanks James." She said awkwardly. Dany sighed. These two have a really long way to go. But there was progress; this was progress.

Lily thought it was a strange feeling to have her best friend be as tall as her for once; not that Lily was particularly tall, only about 5 foot 5, but her 5 foot 2 friend was someone she was used to having to look down to see. But she was eye level with Dany now, in her heels and jeans and it was strange. James, Sirius, and Remus had walked up and Dany had been talking to James so Remus quietly talked to her as Sirius listened in on James' conversation.

"Hey, Lily."

"Remus, it's good to see you again. Crazy game, huh? I mean it was totally normal up until Maya had her arm hurt…I was so worried for her." She mused and he nodded.

"I know, I don't think I have the stomach for Quidditch, honestly. I don't know how Sirius can hit bludgers at people with a clean conscious." Remus responded and Lily quite agreed with that. Sirius wasn't exactly a gentle person but Lily was also pretty sure that he wouldn't really take a lot of joy in hurting people. He didn't seem like he kicked puppies in his spare time or lit cats on fire for fun or something equally as horrific.

"Yeah, I'm definitely not cut out for it either…but I suppose that's why we're not on the team." Lily said and she noticed when that Dany turned around to say something to someone passing by, Sirius clearly checked out her jean-clad butt before quickly looking away.

"Did you just see him…?" Remus said, clearly talking about the same thing she had just seen.

"Yeah, I did. He totally just scoped out her ass." Lily whispered and Remus nodded.

"I think he felt guilty because he looked away awfully quick and trust me when I say that he looks girls up and down shamelessly most of the time and it takes a lot longer than that." Remus said and Lily snickered at that.

"Oh and Remus? Marlene is over there by the couches; I know you like her, just by the way." Lily said quietly and Remus' face turned red and he looked around to check if anyone had heard.

"Who told you?" He whispered.

"No one did. I could tell is all. Just like how I can tell that your boy has it bad for Dany." She said and gestured towards Sirius. "He has for a little while, if I'm right." She added on and Remus nodded.

"Wow, so it's not just me and James that are seeing that? Thank goodness."

"Yeah, it's not just you. Me, Alice, Marles, and James are actually trying to get them together; it's secret and behind their backs but you're definitely welcome to join the campaign. All are welcome." Lily said and Remus nodded.

"Yeah, I think that I might take you up on that. How's it going so far?" He asked and Lily shrugged.

"As well as it can when he has all of these girlfriends, I guess…do you have any idea when Kenzie's going to be kicked to the curb? I've been waiting for a while. We're all sick to death of her." Lily asked and Remus shook his head.

"I don't know…I'd guess soon though. Apparently the sex is getting boring, according to Sirius, and as soon as that happens, it's only a matter of time." Remus replied and Lily felt the urge to gag. Boys were so gross.

"Ugh, well that's gross." She observed and Remus nodded.

"Yup, I just count myself fortunate that he never brings girls back to our room; says he doesn't want them where he sleeps. It's kind of…hard to listen to sometimes, how he talks about them; he's not a bad guy but he just doesn't care about them or their feelings. The boy has a list of things a foot long he won't do with girls and that's right at the top. I think part of it's out of courtesy for us to be honest and we're infinitely grateful for it." Remus said and Lily had to agree that she'd be grateful for that arrangement if she were in Remus and James' positions.

"Yeah…I can see that…but really Remus, go talk to Marlene. She's much funnier when she's drunk." Remus looked embarrassed. "Go on! She's probably at least tipsy. Nothing you say can be so bad that you'll offend her when she's drunk." Lily encouraged and pushed him towards her. She looked over at her group of friends and saw that Dany was now talking to Sirius and James was observing, looking amused. Lily walked over and he smiled in greeting. "Remus just told me about Sirius and his…rules about girls." She said quietly and James laughed.

"Oh he told you about the Ten Commandments?" He said. Lily raised an eyebrow that that.

"I don't think God would appreciate that use of that term, James Potter." Lily commented and he laughed again.

"Well God hasn't struck me down yet…but he actually told you about them?" James said and Lily nodded.

"He didn't say what they were but he said they existed. I'm going to be really nosy and ask if there's a reason behind them." Lily said and James shrugged.

"Not sure, to be honest. Remus and I always thought that he didn't bring girls back to our room as a courtesy but the rest of them…I don't know it's like he's holding off on being a real boyfriend to them or something. It's weird. Maybe it's the Sirius version of saving your virginity; maybe he's just waiting for someone that can convince him to break his own rules." James said with a shrug as they watched Sirius and Dany talk. He said something and she laughed, snorting her butterbeer out her nose, which only caused her to laugh harder. He started laughing at her laughing, with butterbeer dripping down her face, the original joke long forgotten.

"You're not going to tell me what these other nine things are, are you?" Lily said and James shook his head.

"No, that's not for me to say. Sorry…they're really cute you know; he needs to stop with all these whores and just suck it up and ask her out. I'm going to lose my mind here soon." Suddenly the music changed to a song that Lily and Dany had spent many a day at her house dancing to. Dany abruptly stopped talking to Sirius and looked at Lily. Lily grinned at her and grabbed her hand.

"Come on! We're dancing; come if you want boys." Lily called over her shoulder as she was followed onto the dance floor by Dany. She saw Sirius and James warily trailing behind them. They ran into Marles and Alice and they all started laughing.

"Is this what I think it is?" Marlene all but shouted into her ear. Lily nodded.

"Yup. Damn this is excellent timing." She responded and Lily started to dance with Dany, coaxing her into dancing by pulling on her hands. Finally, her white-haired friend gave in and started dancing and singing with her. Lily looked over her friends shoulder to see James and Sirius talking; it was actually more like James was talking to Sirius as Sirius watched Dany dance. Dany was completely oblivious to that fact and was singing along with Marlene now.

"Come a little closer…You could be my soldier…Keeping me safe from all who conspire…I'm looking for some shelter…From the helter skelter…Just keep me away from all who conspire…" (It's a Bea Miller song called "Enemy Fire" and I don't own it) They were both singing and dancing and Lily thought that Dany was moving her hips a little too much in those jeans and heels for it to be entirely wholesome. The funniest part of the whole thing was that Dany was entirely sober and was still dancing like that, at least in Lily's opinion. Everything suddenly got a lot less funny when Kenzie finally made an appearance and caught her boyfriend watching one of his best friends dance. Marlene saw the angry blonde seconds after Lily and gestured to her so Dany could see. She stopped dancing and turned around slightly to see what was happening. Alice started paying attention too and James edged away from the couple; this was a one-way trip to a disaster and he clearly didn't want to be caught in the crossfire.

"Oh fuck." Lily heard Marlene say and she quite agreed with that assessment. Dany walked towards Lily.

"Where the hell did she come from?" Dany asked her and Lily shrugged.

"No clue…one second she was nowhere to be found and next second, she's right here yelling." Lily responded, trying to be heard over the loud music.

"She's looks pissed; what the hell happened?" Dany said and Lily shook her head; her friend's obliviousness to her best guy friend's obvious interest was astounding.

"I think we're done for tonight. Marles, why don't you get Al and meet us back in our room, okay?" Lily shouted to Marlene and the girl nodded and vanished as they started to make their way towards the girls' stairs. Dany paused to hug James and she said something in his ear, purely so he could hear her over the music; he nodded and Lily continued to push her way through the crowd with her friend. They made it up to their room after almost being shoved into other people at least three times and Dany sat on her bed.

"What the hell was that? Are you ever going to give me an explanation?" Dany demanded as Lily sat down next to her on the other girl's bed. Just then Marlene and Alice walked in.

"Ah, Marlene. Why don't you explain why Kenzie was pissed? I'm getting tired of doing it and maybe the message will get through if another voice is saying it." Lily said tiredly and Marlene grinned as she sat on the ground, legs stretched out in front of her. Alice sat cross-legged on the ground next to Marles.

"Well you see, Danilynn, I don't know if you missed the memo, but you're a very pretty girl and when you dance like how you just were, guys tend to look and then their girlfriends get pissed off because lo and behold, their boyfriends are looking at some other girl." She said knowingly. Dany rolled her eyes.

"You all are being ridiculous. I was legitimately dancing how I always do." She said and Lily shook her head.

"Sweetie, you kind of…came into yourself over summer and it's a little different now is all. It's not your fault and you shouldn't feel awkward or anything but I saw it happen. Our good friend Sirius was getting a good look at your butt and his girlfriend caught him and she was good and pissed." Lily said and Alice laughed.

"Seriously, this is hilarious…oh I bet he's in a world of hurt right now." Alice said and the other girls laughed.

"Remus was saying that he thinks that she's almost gone, thankfully." Lily said.

"How does he know that?" Marlene asked curiously and Lily shook her head as if she couldn't believe that the next sentence was actually going to come out of her mouth.

"He said that Sirius was saying that the sex is getting boring; said they usually are gone pretty quick after that." She said and every other girl in the room rolled her eyes.

"Wow. Well I think we can all safely rule Sirius out of the 'meant for monogamy' category." Marlene said and everyone nodded in agreement to that. Poor Dany, Lily thought, she had completely fallen for someone who everyone thought was incapable of monogamy. Then she remembered what James had said: "maybe he's just waiting for someone who can convince him to break his own rules". There was still hope.

"Mate, she's going to kill you; I hope you realize that." James said and he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.

"Yeah, I realize, James. Thanks for reminding me though." Sirius said dryly. Kenzie, or "Crazy Kenzie" as James had dubbed her, was pissed; she was fucking livid.

"No problem. I hope getting a good look at my Godsister's ass in those jeans was worth it, just by the way." James said with a yawn and Sirius dropped his toothbrush, which had been in his hand halfway to his mouth.

"What?" He said and James laughed.

"Please, don't play dumb. I saw you looking at her tonight; I think the only person that didn't see it was her, honestly. I should probably tell her to stop dancing so much, it gives me the extra worry of perverted guys like you looking her up and down." James joked and Sirius tossed a pillow at him before picking his toothbrush back off the floor.

"Like you could tell her what to do." Sirius responded and James grunted in agreement.

"I think the only person who can tell her what to do with any relative success is her dad and even that isn't for sure." James said, yawning again. "Sometimes she won't even listen to him if she's hell-bent on something. That's only happened a few times though." Sirius rinsed off his toothbrush and stuck it back in his mouth.

"That's great James. Now I really think we should address on a scale of 1-10 how pissed Kenzie is right now." He said and Remus happened to walk in at that moment.

"Eleven." The werewolf said.

"Twenty-seven." James said.

"Nineteen." Frank said as he added on as he entered behind Remus.

"Wow, thanks guys. I'm glad to know that this time tomorrow, I'll likely be dead." Sirius said and James started laughing at absolutely nothing like it was the funniest thing in the world.

"Ah, I see no one ever bothered to pass along some age-old advice…'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'. Good luck brother. Now let us get some sleep. I want to be well-rested for your funeral." James said and they all got into bed and Sirius spent a little while thinking about how fucked he was before he finally fell asleep.

He woke up late and tiredly walked down in what he had slept in to the common room, not bothering to change due to the fact it was a Sunday. He rubbed his eyes and realized that Kenzie was sitting in an armchair in the otherwise empty common room. Fuck. He decided to try to cut her off and just start talking.

"Look, Kenzie I—"

"No, Sirius you don't even know what I'm upset about!" She started yelling immediately and Sirius felt a headache coming on.

"Kenzie, I know that you're upset but I can't exactly address your problems when you won't tell me what they are." Sirius said and Kenzie threw her hands up in the air, clearly pissed.

"Where do I start? There is so much wrong with this relationship that I don't even know which problem to start with." She said and Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't realize that we had so many problems…would you care to enlighten me as to what they are exactly?" He said and she started to pace.

"You sleep in until like noon on the weekends instead of going to Hogsmeade with me, your self-esteem is horrible and your expectations for just about everything are crazy and way too high." She started to list off and he raised an eyebrow again.

"You do realize that those are all just problems with me, right?" He asked dryly and she ignored him.

"Not to mention that you can't even keep a promise to see me over summer; we went three months without seeing each other and you didn't even write!"

"Kenzie, I didn't see anyone over summer; it's nothing personal." He said tiredly and didn't even feel bad about lying to her about that.

"And now you're just lying to my face! Don't you bullshit me Sirius Black, I know you saw her." She snapped and Sirius felt his eyes widen.

"How do you know about that?" He said and then wanted to hit himself in the face for admitting that. He was fucked now.

"So you admit that you cancelled on me to go be with her? You admit it?" She started to yell and simultaneously cry. This was getting ridiculous, Sirius thought to himself.

"I don't even know what I'm admitting to so please enlighten me!" He yelled back and Kenzie started to cry in earnest.

"My aunt works in St. Mungo's. She said that you were going in and out of some high security part of the hospital for over a week; the same week we were supposed to be together at James'!" She retorted and Sirius wanted to slam his head into a damn wall.

"No one said that I was with Dany! Because God forbid that I go visit someone in the hospital!" He shouted and she shook her head.

"My aunt is a receptionist. She saw her come out to get you. She heard you ask an Auror where she was. She saw her essentially fly into your arms. You can't get out of this." She said and Sirius shook his head.

"Yeah, I was there. I was in the hospital and I was with Dany. Is that what you want me to say? I don't exactly see what point you think you're trying to make right now!" He snapped and she threw a nearby book at his head. He ducked it, barely. "What the fuck? You're bloody crazy!" He yelled and she started to cry even harder. He found that he had no inclination to stop her from crying. He always wanted to keep girls from crying, except for right now.

"We're done. I can't handle being with someone who doesn't put me and my needs first." She said and Sirius wondered if her need for his attention was just as pressing as the girl who had needed him at her father's hospital bed; he somehow doubted that Kenzie had been that desperate for his time and attention. He shrugged at her.

"If that's what you want." He said and she shook her head before walking out of the, blissfully empty, Gryffindor common room.

"She broke up our relationship and mark my words, I'll get revenge on that bitch." She said before leaving through the portrait hole. Sirius put his head in his hands and groaned. Bloody women. James walked in not twenty minutes later, Remus by his side.

"Hey Mate, where's Crazy Kenzie?" James asked as he sat down next to his best friend.

"Don't know, don't care." He said and shrugged.

"It's over?" Remus asked and Sirius nodded. He saw Remus wince and James looked victorious. "Damn, that was sudden." He remarked and Sirius nodded tiredly. James was eyeing him keenly; he suspected that more was going on than what Sirius was letting on. He'd have to fill him in on what exactly had happened when they were alone.

"Yeah, who knew that the fact I sleep in late could be such a problem?" He asked dryly and waved a hand. He figured that it wasn't a complete lie, seeing as she had actually brought that up at one point.

"You're joking. She dumped you over that?" Remus asked disbelievingly and Sirius nodded, feeling bad for lying to Remus.

"She said I didn't make a big enough deal over Hogsmeade visits or something; I don't know it was kind of hard to really hear what she was saying through all of the tears." He said and Remus raised an eyebrow.

"She cried? You just sat there and let her cry?" He said skeptically and Sirius knew why; as soon as his girlfriends got the waterworks going, he'd usually say anything to get the tears to stop.

"Yup. I sat there and let her cry." He said and that was the truth. She had been practically sobbing and he had just let it happen. Remus looked at him like he wasn't quite sure what to think of that before standing back up.

"I'm going to go do some homework in the library…where you two won't blow anything up or change words in my essay." He said and left James and Sirius alone.

"Alright, what'd she really dump you over?" James asked, clearly having seen through the shitty excuse he had given Remus.

"She found out that I was at the hospital with Dany during summer. Apparently her aunt is a receptionist at St. Mungo's; she never mentioned that before, ironically." Sirius said with a shrug and James clapped him on the back.

"Well at least you were dumped for a noble cause. Was it worth it? Was sitting with Dan and her mom worth breaking up with Kenzie?" He asked and Sirius guessed that there was some kind of point that James was trying to make.

"Yeah, of course it was…her dad was comatose. I really think that something like that takes priority over my girlfriend's sex drive. I mean call me crazy but frantic letters written before leaving for the hospital kind of take precedence over pretty much everything else that's going on." Sirius responded and James nodded as if he agreed with him. Sirius doubted that it would be that easy to end the discussion though.

"You put her above Kenzie and when Kenzie found out she got pissed." James observed and Sirius nodded.

"Yup. She was what? Number three?" Sirius asked and James shook his head.

"She was number four." James corrected him quietly.

Sirius spent a total of three weeks single between Kenzie and Kimberly O'Cleary and they had been the best three weeks James had spent with his friend in a really long time. Even though no one ever really talked about it, all of the girlfriends put a strain on the relationship James had with his best friend and they both knew it. Dany sure as hell knew it because James would complain to her sometimes. There were days when all of the guys were busy and Sirius was off making out with one of his girls when Dany would sit next to James in his bed and they'd talk for hours like they were kids again. It was a Saturday in mid-November when this same thing happened. Dany was lying to his right and they were both staring at the ceiling, arms brushing.

"Hey Dan?"

"Yeah?"

"What does Brady Harris have to do with you and/or Lily?" James asked quietly. He had been turning that over in his mind ever since they had come back from break. Dany turned her head to look at him.

"I'm going to bloody murder Lily. What did she tell you?" Dany sighed. James' eyes widened.

"Nothing…it's just Sirius said he overheard you and Lily talking about him a while back; I was just curious." James said and Dany put a hand on her face.

"It—it's ridiculous really…Marlene heard a rumor last year that he had a thing for me and then he helped me pick up my books one day when I dropped them near Charms. He was nice, I guess. But he asked me if I needed help with Charms because apparently my inability is known to many people, even ones not in our year. He's been helping me on and off all year after class and on weekends. Now everyone's freaking out because apparently that means marriage or something." She said with a shrug and James fought the urge to shake her by the shoulders and yell that going near him was a horrible idea.

"Oh, I can't say I've ever had a real conversation with him…what's he like?" James asked her and she thought for a second.

"He's…nice, I guess. I mean I don't think nice is a good word for it, it's too wholesome I guess. Maybe charming would be better? But anyways, Lily thinks he's going to ask me out. He's definitely smart, I mean he's a Ravenclaw so I'd assume so anyways. I mean he's an okay tutor but he isn't super patient so that's not very helpful it's just that I feel bad asking Lily for help all the time…speaking of Lils, how's it going with her?" Dany asked, changing the subject.

"Ugh, why is your best friend so beautiful? She's bloody gorgeous and I have to see her everyday and every time I see her I just want to tell her that I love her and I know that's a horrible idea so I don't. I think it's going to kill me, I'm not joking." He said and Dany smiled a little, sympathetically.

"You're growing on her, James; trust me when I say that patience will pay off with her. You don't want to fuck it all up now by running out of patience. I mean it could always be worse; she could be sucking face every morning over breakfast." Dany said dryly and James felt bad for her. He sometimes forgot that Dany was crushing hard on his best friend and when he did remember, he couldn't imagine being in her shoes, watching him kiss girls, knowing he was sleeping with girls, and then hearing all about it later. She put on a good face James had to admit; she fooled even him sometimes and she definitely had Sirius under the delusion that she couldn't care less about his habits.

"Aw, Dan I'm sorry about that. I mean he was single for a while…it was a nice break right?" James said and Dany nodded.

"Yeah, it was a nice break from the constant snogging I have to admit…you know if Brady asks me out, which is a big if, I think I might say yes." James wanted to tell her that doing that would be a mistake; dating Brady was an awful idea and he knew it and he wanted to tell her but he knew she wouldn't listen. She would think he was talking as Sirius' best friend who wanted them together and not her Godbrother that wanted to protect her from scumbag guys.

"Really?" He asked, trying to stay neutral for her sake; he could keep an open mind. Maybe Brady was a great guy. He doubted it but still he could try.

"Yeah…I can't keep my life on hold for some guy that I'll never be with and has probably slept with more girls than he has fingers…no offense to Sirius or your friendship with him." She added on at the end and James had to admit she had a point but at the same time he found it so frustrating that it was right there in front of them, in front of both of them, and neither could see that they were essentially perfect.

"Well, we'll just have to wait and see…you know your birthday's next week." James said and Dany raised an eyebrow.

"Is it really? Damn, I'll be fifteen." She said and James thought about that. Where was his Godsister going? Where had the girl sitting on her dad's shoulders gone?

"What do you want?" James asked and as always, Dany shook her head.

"I don't want anything…I have everything I need. I'm happy." She said quietly and James believed her; she'd been saying that ever since she was a little girl and had outgrown her 'I want as many books as I can fit in my room' phase.

"Well that's not very helpful." He observed and she shrugged.

"I'm being serious, you know. I don't want anything." She said again and just as the words left her mouth, the door opened. James didn't have to look up to know it was Sirius.

"Hey, Sirius." He said and Dany raised an eyebrow.

"Hey. Uh, Dan what are you doing here?" Sirius said and Dany pulled herself into a half-sitting position.

"I'm talking to James, my Godbrother. Is that okay with you?" She said and he shrugged, clearly missing the tone that said she didn't care whether or not it was okay with him because she wasn't leaving. She lay back down and continued to look at the ceiling.

"But actually what do you want? Your parents and my parents and your brother have been hounding me for over a month now to ask you." James said and Dany shook her head.

"I told you; I don't want anything. I have everything I need." She said and James wanted to bang his head into the wall.

"Uh not to be nosy but why are we getting Dany things?" Sirius asked and Dany waved a hand.

"No reason, nothing important." She said and James ignored that.

"Her birthday's next week." James said and Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yup. The 21st. That's what? Next Thursday?" Dany said, like she didn't care about it at all.

"Yep. Damn you have potions on your birthday. That sucks." James said and Dany nodded in agreement. "Now please tell me what you want for your birthday; you're impossible to buy for and I don't think I can keep giving you common Muggle household items as jokes for much longer." James laughed and Dany grinned. Last year it had been a toaster and the year before that it was an alarm clock. She had laughed so hard she had almost cried at the toaster.

"Just get me another one; they're funny. The toaster was really original." She remarked and James grinned; he had been proud of that one.

"I mean I know I'm hilarious but I think your parents want to get you something more heartfelt than a can opener so help them out if you don't mind." James pried and she shrugged.

"I told you that I don't want anything. I have a wonderful family, great friends, a nice house, and everything I need. Don't spend money on me, not when there are other people who need it so much more." She said and James saw the Masters mentality coming out in her. They were all like that and they all genuinely believed that. It was give, give, give with them and they never thought to take any for themselves.

"I'm still buying you something." James said and Dany shrugged before sitting up.

"Fine, but I'm not enabling you. I'll get out of your hair, you boys probably have something top secret to talk about or something." She said before standing up. She had a serious case of bedhead from lying in bed with him all day. She kissed him on top of his head quickly, as she always had, and waved to Sirius before leaving the room, quietly closing the door behind her.

"How's Kimberly?" James asked his friend as he sat up. His back hurt from not moving.

"She's fine I guess. I don't know; we didn't really do any talking." Sirius said with a shrug. James rolled his eyes. "Did she just kiss the top of your head?" He asked, looking like he hadn't seen right.

"Oh yeah, it's something that our parents always did to us. It kind of became a thing when we were little kids…she had a huge problem with homesickness when we started Hogwarts and every night before we went to our rooms I'd kiss the top of her head like our parents always did and she said it reminded her of home. It's kind of weird but whatever I guess." James said with a shrug. He'd never really thought about how weird that probably looked.

"Oh, well that's actually really nice of you, James. I always knew you had it in you." Sirius laughed and James flipped him off.

"Oh yeah I'm a big marshmallow. Unfortunately I'm also a big marshmallow that has nothing to give her for her fifteenth." James groaned when suddenly an owl tapped on the glass of the window. He got up to open the window and the owl held out its leg. "Ah, I see Daniel's getting antsy about it too." He said as he petted the Masters family owl before he flew off. He opened up the letter and read the first sentence and wanted to cry. I have an idea.