Hey! So, this is a nice happy (kind of smutty) chapter to balance out the incredibly depressing one I just posted on Feel Again. This was supposed to be in a couple chapters, but I switched it with this one because I couldn't do it to you guys.

Read and Review!

Love, Essie

Taking it slow, but it's not typical
He already knows that my love is fire
His heart was a stone, but then his hands roam
I turned him to gold and it took him higher

Oh, I'll be your daydream, I'll wear your favorite things
We could be beautiful
Get drunk on the good life, I'll take you to paradise
Say you'll never let me go

~Roses, The Chainsmokers

Lily of all people was Sirius' savior. She—and the rest of their friends—was going down to Hogsmeade, but she gave Sirius something pretty perfect when he had run into her without Dany: the password to the Prefect's bathroom.

"Dan?" Sirius asked as they sat in their usual spot during their morning run. She looked over at him. It was the day of the Hogsmeade trip and he hadn't mentioned any form of date since they had first discussed it.

"Yeah?"

"You know how you told me to figure something out for today?" She nodded. "I figured something out. You have a swimsuit, right?"

"I'm not getting in the lake with that bloody squid, Sirius." She said warily, like that was exactly what she was expecting to hear. It had been on the list of possibilities, to be fair.

"No, no not the Black Lake. You have one, right?" She nodded.

"Yeah, I have one. Why do I need it?" He kissed her nose.

"You'll see—once everyone leaves for Hogsmeade." He said and she smiled a little, nodding.

"Okay, Mr. Mysterious. Are you going to tell me where I should meet you?" She asked, obviously intrigued.

"Common room at noon? They stop letting people leave the castle at eleven so that should be fine. Come in the swimsuit—and probably a cover-up because we're leaving the common room." He said and she nodded.

Sirius wished his friends a good trip and killed a bit more time before shoving on swim trunks and heading down to the common room at noon. Dany was already sitting there in what appeared to be a giant t-shirt and no pants, barefoot.

"Why do you insist on no shoes?" He asked, making her jump.

"Because I enjoy bare feet. Not to mention that I don't want to ruin any shoes I own in water—which I'm assuming is involved somehow." She said and took his hand as he led her out of the common room and into the abandoned hallways. "Where are we going?" She asked. "I've never been to this part of the castle."

"Well, your dear best friend kindly gave me the password to the Prefects' bathroom so we're going to try to figure out how it works." He said and she laughed. "I figured you wouldn't want to go naked, so I asked about the swimsuit. I mean you could go naked if you wanted…" She smacked his arm. "I thought as much." He added and gave the password to the portrait.

"Wow." Dany said, looking around. "Let's turn them all on and see what happens." She added before leaning down and starting to turn the different spouts on. Sirius turned on a few and laughed, as she seemed to be enjoying this greatly. Dany cautiously stuck a hand in the tub full of water and bubbles. "God, that feels so good. I haven't taken a bath in so long." She said. "This was a good one, Sirius. I wasn't expecting this." She added. "Now, I'm getting in before the water gets cold. Come on." She said and pulled on his hand towards the bathtub.

She pulled her giant t-shirt off and indeed she hadn't been wearing pants—just a dark red 2-piece. The bottoms left very little of her butt to the imagination and the top didn't even have straps. It looked like the much prettier, aquatic cousin of the strapless bra. Dany put her hair into a bun on the top of her head and turned to look at him. Sirius was currently trying to remember how to breathe and was wondering when his mouth had gotten so dry.

"Yes?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. He shook his head.

"Nothing. Come on." He said and pulled his shirt off before helping her into the bathtub. "This feels incredible." He commented as he leaned back against the side of the tub. Dany nodded as she sat down, situating herself so she was tucked under his arm and leaned against the side of the tub as well.

"I know. I need to thank Lily for giving you the password." She sighed and absently rested her head on his shoulder.

"Why do you have your hair up?" Sirius asked and she looked over. He was actually quite sad to lose her head on his shoulder.

"Oh, it's to keep my hair from getting wet, but I suppose that's rather stupid as we're in a bathtub and not a pool." She said and tugged her hair down from the bun it had been, placing the hair tie just outside of the tub and letting her hair fall down around her, the ends of the silver hair turning darker in the water. It could almost be considered blonde—platinum blonde, but still blonde. She readjusted so her head was back on his shoulder and took a deep breath, closing her eyes.

"Hey, Dan?" He said after a little while of silence. She made a sound of acknowledgement. "You're really beautiful." Her eyes opened and she looked over at him, lifting her head up and obviously surprised.

"I—thank you." She murmured. "No one but my family or Lily has ever called me beautiful before." She added quietly.

"Not even Brady…?" He asked. She shook her head.

"I was a lot of things to Brady, but that wasn't one of them."

"You really are beautiful." She smiled a little, her face was turning pink, but Sirius couldn't tell if it was from the heat of the bath or the compliment.

"Thank you." She murmured and he touched her face, cupping her cheek with his hand. She leaned into his touch and he saw a faint smile cross her face…then before he knew what had happened, she had splashed him with water.

"Dany!" He shouted and her could hear her laughs from somewhere else in the bathtub—the tub was too full to see very far past the bubbles in the immediate area. "Really? You just killed a really beautiful moment."

"Come on, if you kept going on with that any longer I was going to cry. This is much better." He heard her say. He looked around, trying to sort through the mass of bubbles, only to feel a hand grab his ankle.

Before Sirius could stop himself, he screamed—quite like he had screamed before puberty had done its job. Dany came up for air and started laughing.

"Oh my God—I don't even scream that shrilly." She gasped, bubbles sticking to her now soaking hair. "Do the guys know that you sound like a twelve-year-old when you scream?" She asked, unable to wipe the grin from her face. He splashed her with water and scowled, just making her laugh harder. She moved towards him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Aw, don't be that way, love. Don't be angry with me. I promise not to tell anyone that you sound like a little girl when you're surprised." Dany whispered, pouting at him.

He wrapped his arms around her and before she could stop him, he dunked both of them underwater, making her yelp in surprise—quite shrilly, he noted with satisfaction. He let her up to breathe and she frowned at him.

"Unfair." She huffed. "I didn't try and drown you." She pointed out. Sirius wrapped his arms around his girlfriend with a grin.

"Aw, don't be that way, love." She rolled her eyes. "I promise not to tell anyone you sound like a little girl when you're surprised." He repeated at her.

"I am a girl, you dolt." She whispered back. "Your hair is sticking out everywhere." She added. "It looks like James' hair right now." Sirius quickly ran a hand through it, trying to defuse what apparently looked like James' bird's nest. She ran her own hair back through it, messing it back up. "It's cute—leave it." She said and suddenly Sirius became aware of how close they were and how scantily clothed.

"Have you ever snogged someone in the water?" He asked and she grinned.

"Can't say I have. You?"

"Nope."

"I get to be the first girlfriend to snog you somewhere. Finally." She laughed and straddled his lap, pushing him up against the side of the tub, before kissing him hungrily. He kissed her back and absently realized that she was rubbing her body on his and grinding her hips into his, probably without realizing she was doing it. All the while, he could feel her top inching its way down.

"Dan, your top's about to become really useless." He whispered once they had stopped snogging momentarily to breathe. She looked down and indeed her top was about an inch off from exposing her nipples.

"Shit. Close your eyes." She murmured and he did. "No peeking." She added and he rolled his eyes even though they were closed. He felt something land on his head and silently hoped it wasn't something awful. "Okay, you can open." She said and he immediately reached up to see what she had put on his head. He pulled it off his head and realized it was her top. That meant…Dany was still straddling his lap just as she had been, except she was now topless and the only things hiding her body from him were the bubbles and her bottoms. He shooed the bubbles away and he finally got a look at the breasts he'd been having dreams about ever since he'd felt them in the dark. Her nipples were light pink and her skin was creamy porcelain.

"You're so beautiful, love." He said without thinking, running a thumb under one of her areolas. He felt her breath hitch as she watched him touch her.

"Like what you see?"

"I've waited to see this for years and I'm definitely not disappointed. I love what I see." He murmured and he heard her moan as he took one of her breasts into his mouth and started sucking on one of her quickly hardening nipples.

"We're going to get caught." Dany moaned, her head rolling back as Sirius continued to touch her and kiss her everywhere he could get to. He personally didn't care if they got caught. "This is the prefects' bathroom."

"We can take this somewhere else if you want." He said.

"Can it not be a broom cupboard?" He nodded, handing her top back to her.

"I was thinking more like my room. That sounds a bit more comfortable." He said and she nodded, taking the hand he offered her to help her out of the bathtub. She found her wand and dried them both off magically before replacing her top and putting on her t-shirt again.

They walked—ran was more like it, really—back to the common room holding hands and laughing. Sirius realized that the sun was starting to go down: they had been longer than he had thought. There was probably another hour or so until people started to come back, so he dismissed it and practically carried his girlfriend up the stairs to his room. The door closed and they both started undressing each other again, Sirius all but ripping her bikini top off her before settling her in his bed, somehow managing to never break the kiss they were currently wrapped up in. He crawled in bed with her and closed the curtains quickly. When she reached down for his pants, he stopped her hand.

"Are you on the potion?" He asked while coherent thoughts were still present. She nodded. "You were planning to do this, weren't you?" She nodded again. "Clever girl." Smirk. "Let me help you out of those bottoms, love." He said and reached down, hooking his fingers on the sides of her bikini bottoms and pulling them off her body, leaving her completely naked and sprawled across his bed.

He reached down and pulled his own clothes off, watching Dany's eyes run up his body. She looked curious more than anything and he realized that this was probably the first time she had seen a naked man in person. Sirius rolled on top of her, but kept his weight off her, examining her face. She didn't look afraid or anxious—something he assumed she would be.

"Are you sure about this, love?" She nodded, touching his face gently. "Tell me if I hurt you, okay? I'm not joking. Tell me and we'll stop." He said and she smiled a little, kissing his lips quickly.

"Go ahead, Sirius. I trust you." She whispered and he slowly pushed into her, watching her face for anything that indicated discomfort and tried not to give in and have his way with her. This time couldn't be about his pleasure—not when he could hurt her. Dany's eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly, almost in surprise.

"Talk to me, Dan. Stop, keep going, what?" He said, firmly telling himself that he wasn't going to do anything until she said either way. She wiggled around a little. Sirius guessed that she was trying to get used to having him inside of her.

"Keep going." She said, nodding a little. "I'm okay—it's just going to take a bit of getting used to." He nodded and kissed her before continuing to push in and out of her, still watching for anything that spoke of pain. Suddenly, her entire body just relaxed; her body had been putting up a fuss and she had been almost painfully tight—all of her muscles looked and felt tense—until she quite suddenly relaxed.

"Dany? You okay?" He asked and she nodded, dragging his face down to hers.

"I'm fantastic." She whispered and she appeared to actually mean it. "God that feels so good." Well, that was unexpected.

Sirius absently ran his hand down Dany's exposed back. Her head was on his chest and the sheets had fallen down to around her hips. Her hair was everywhere, on the pillows, on him, and some of it had fallen into her face. He was in boxers and she was completely lacking clothes seeing that she had practically passed out after they had finished a few hours ago. She was peacefully sleeping in his arms and he had been alternating between staring at her and the ceiling.

He looked up at the shut curtains around his bed as she shifted and pressed her face closer to his body. His bed. He had actually just slept with someone in his own bed. That had always been something he swore never to do. There were a lot of things he had sworn never to do with girls. This was at the top of the list. He never brought girls to his room, he always went to them, mainly as a courtesy to his roommates, but also because he liked being able to leave. He was pretty sure he had just broken at least four of those rules in the last six hours.

They had been dating for a little over two months. He had actually waited for two months to be with her. He had waited for her longer than most of his other relationships had lasted from start to finish; then again, this was a different relationship and she was a very different girl. Suddenly, Dany's eyes flickered open. She blinked a few times as she looked up at him. He smiled at her.

"Hey." She said softly; he always had thought that something about her was ethereal, almost angelic. And lying on his chest looking up at him with sleep all over her voice, Dany Masters looked much more vulnerable than usual.

"Hello yourself, sleepyhead." He murmured and she smiled, pushing her hair out of her face to reach up and kiss him. "I didn't know that I bore people to such an extent that they fall into a deep slumber." He joked. She laughed and rolled her eyes.

"You're not boring, Sirius. If we're going to talk about what just happened, I don't think I'd put 'boring' on my list of adjectives." She said, her cheeks turning slightly pink—then again, maybe it was the red curtains around them giving her face the rosy appearance. "How long was I asleep?" She asked, rubbing her eyes a little.

"A couple hours. I was surprised when you fell asleep and stayed that way." He admitted and her cheeks definitely turned red this time.

"Is that unusual?" She asked, suddenly seeming very self-conscious.

"I've never seen it before, but then again I've never stuck around long enough to notice one way or the other." He admitted and she raised an eyebrow.

"You just shagged and then left?" She asked. He kissed her forehead.

"Not anymore, beautiful." He murmured. Dany smiled and relaxed into his chest, starting to trace the scars on his chest. Sirius supposed that the concealment charms he kept on them when he knew he'd be without a shirt had worn off.

"What changed your mind? The fact I just fell asleep and you couldn't kick me out?" She laughed.

"Hm, something like that." He said absently. She snorted.

"I'll stay awake long enough to leave next time." She said, obviously amused.

"No, I've quite given up on that recently." He said and she rolled over to look at him directly.

"What?"

"Yeah…oh, you want to know what exactly you've done to me." She smiled.

"You bet I do. All girls like being told they're special." She said.

"Don't judge me too hard though. I'm a changed man, I swear…so, I've never slept with anyone in my own bed; this is definitely a first," He motioned around, "And I've never actually spent the night with someone—"

"You've never fallen asleep next to the girl you had just…been with?" She asked softly, obviously phrasing it delicately.

"No, I haven't. It always seemed so personal. And talking after always freaked me out…so I usually left as soon as we, um, finished. I never really cared about any of their problems enough to listen, honestly. And I avoided virgins," she looked mildly uncomfortable and he felt her shift a little, "not because I hate them, I clearly don't, but it just seemed like so much responsibility. I didn't want to ruin someone for life by being awful in bed. And I've been a horrible boyfriend; being considerate is something I've never really felt the need to be. I just—God this sounds awful and it really is—never wanted to take the time to do it right, so I never did. Saying this out loud to someone that isn't James makes this sound so bad." He said uncomfortably.

"So I just broke what? Five of your rules? Because you definitely took the time to do it right." She said and he could see her smile a little. He felt her trace a scar on his chest.

"Six, actually."

"You only said five; I've been counting. What's the sixth?" She said and he rolled his eyes at the fact she'd counted.

"You're touching it." Her hand stopped outlining the crisscrossing scars over his heart. "No one's ever seen them—not all of them at least. Of course, the guys have seen some purely because we live together and accidents happen." She propped herself up on an elbow to look him in the eye.

"Why do you hide these?" She asked gently. He knew she wasn't just talking about his chest; there were scars all over his body, on his chest, stomach, and back.

"Because they're ugly. No one wants to see all of this." He told her.

"I like seeing them—they're a part of you." She said quietly, kissing him gently, almost lovingly. He looked at her skeptically. "I do." She added before nestling back into his chest and resuming drawing patterns on his chest. "Now, are you going to tell me the other four of these rules? I fully intend to break them all."

"Oh really? You think you can convince me to break all of these rules for you?" He asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm doing pretty well so far. Besides, I know how you feel about rules. When was the last time you actually followed all of them?" She said with a cocky grin.

"I see your point…well you've technically already busted another one too." He admitted and she smirked.

"Oh really?"

"I've never actually met any of my girlfriends' parents. And I know I met yours when I was thirteen when we were just friends but I think being threatened with Dementors by your father counts as meeting the girlfriend's parents."

"So seven down, three to go." She said and he laughed. "Alright, what are the other three? I'm on a roll."

"I've never let anyone borrow my clothes, specifically Quidditch shirts. And I've never had a girlfriend on Valentine's Day. I always put my friends first, but that doesn't even count right now; you were a friend first so you're number one in my playbook at the moment." He said. She grinned.

"I fully intend to break those…later. Now that I know how you feel about girls spending the night, I'm just going to go before I fall back asleep—" She said with a grin and he tightened his arms around her to keep her from getting up.

"No you're not going anywhere, Danilynn. You're warm, I don't know where your clothes are, and there's no way I'm letting you walk back to your dorm naked. Besides, I like you just where you are." He said.

"I like it here too and I'm enjoying breaking all of your rules." Dany mumbled and almost immediately fell asleep.

"I'm enjoying it too." He said quietly once she was asleep. Not five minutes after the words passed his lips he fell asleep too.

Sirius' eyes opened to sunlight muted by the curtains around his bed. He went to stretch but was stopped by a comfortable weight on top of him. Dany, he remembered. Dany had stayed last night. All he knew was that she was asleep on top of him, naked, slightly heavy, and very welcome. He briefly considered waking her up. She sighed contentedly and he dismissed the idea. She looked so peaceful and relaxed; it was a look she never wore when she was awake.

Her father would bring her and her brother into his study when she was at home and talk to them about the war, let them hash out the details of how they'd handle the Ministry—argue and fight over how things should be done.

She and Rhaegar would come to agreements, using collateral damage and civilian casualties as bargaining chips. If Dany wanted to save a town in Wales with advance knowledge they'd obtained through espionage, she'd have to give Rhaegar's inside man the protection he wanted and allow a raid to happen in Ireland to protect his cover. If Rhaegar wanted to send Law Enforcement to flush out a Death Eater camp, Dany would force the issue and say that the Aurors for it would have to come from a part of the country where there weren't any residences of Ministry officials.

The most stressful part was that the choices they were making weren't just practice. They were very real. Daniel was taking their council into consideration in real life. They were being trained to lead if their parents should falter or die.

Without any warning, Dany's eyes opened and she blinked in the light. She looked around and he felt her toes curl by his calves as she stretched. She looked at him and smiled.

"Hi. How long have you been awake?" She asked.

"Not long. I thought about getting you up but you looked pretty happy where you were." He told her and kissed her softly, which she returned sloppily, obviously still partially asleep; she almost completely missed his mouth.

"Thank you. I hardly ever sleep that well, to be honest. I don't feel sleep deprived for once." She said and sat up next to him, rolling her shoulders and yawning, letting the sheets fall down, leaving her completely exposed, hips up. Her hair was messy and was definitely flatter on the side she had slept on last night. It was almost comical that her usually well-maintained hair looked so crazy.

"I'm glad to hear it. I have to say that I'm usually not that quiet at night either." He admitted and she frowned for a moment, turning to face him.

"What? Why?" She asked, obviously not liking that answer.

"Oh, I'm a bit prone to nightmares is all." He said. "You have a hickey on your neck." He added.

"Tell me about the nightmares." She asked, ignoring the topic of the bruise on her neck. "Not like what happened during Spring Break?" He didn't say anything and her eyes softened. "Oh, Sirius." She sighed leaning down, propping herself up on an elbow to look at him. "Does anyone know?" She asked and he shook his head as she examined his face. "Can I help?" She whispered, looking like she genuinely meant it.

"No, Dan I don't think that there's anything you can do. I think it's something I have to handle on my own." He said and she nodded, kissing his cheek gently.

"If there's anything you can think of, let me know okay?" He nodded. "Now, tell me about this hickey." She added. He reached down and touched the bruise on the side of her neck.

"It's right there." He said. Her eyes widened, her hand going to her neck to prod it gently. "It's just a little thing." She nodded, moving her hand away from it. It was just a little red mark probably about the size of a Knut, if not smaller. "Sorry about that." She shrugged.

"I can just cover it up with makeup—it's not a big deal, but don't ever leave me looking like I've been attacked by a vampire." She said.

"I think I can manage that. You know, Masters, you didn't leave me with anything to remember you by. I'm feeling neglected." He teased.

"I was more concerned about not being horrible in general, if you must know." She said. She hadn't been horrible—she'd actually been pretty decent considering it was her first time.

"Dan, you definitely weren't horrible. Congratulations." He said with a laugh.

"Next time, I'll leave you something to remind you of that. For now, I should probably go back to my room and shower. You wouldn't happen to know where my clothes are, would you?" Sirius poked his head around and found her clothes on the floor between his bed and his nightstand. He grabbed them and handed them to her.

"Guys?" He called out experimentally and no one answered. "No one's here, you can actually get out of bed to get dressed." He told her and she took her clothes and got up to put her clothes on. On her way out she turned around and grinned—obviously knowing that he had been checking her ass out as she had been getting dressed—before leaving.

"So, do you know if Dany has given it up to Sirius?" Marlene asked Lily as they were idly doing homework in their room. Lily looked at her, amused.

"No, Marlene I don't know; she's kind of…private about parts of their relationship. The, um, intimate part is one she keeps to herself. My guess is no, but it's bound to happen." Lily said, absently chewing on the end of her quill.

"Aw, it's so sweet really; they're so sweet. It makes me jealous. I want a super hot boyfriend that's been in love with me since I was twelve." She said and Lily rolled her eyes.

"You know Remus has had a thing for you since forever right?"

"Yeah…but it's just not the same as the fairytale love story that they have going on. Speaking of them, did they ever come back from their run this morning? It's past 10." Marlene said.

"I don't know…I haven't seen her since yesterday. Have you?" Lily asked the girl. Marlene raised an eyebrow.

"No, not since we left for Hogsmeade yesterday…what did she say last time you saw her?" Marlene said and Lily was trying to push panic away; she was fine, she probably had just fallen asleep in the common room or something. Dany was fine. Dany was always fine.

"Not much. Just that she was going to have a quiet day in…with Sirius." Lily said and both of their eyes widened, just as Dany herself walked in—looking like she was in yesterday's clothes.

"Danilynn Masters, have you been where I think you've been?" Lily asked her and Dany looked momentarily panicked.

"Well that depends on where you think I've been, Lily." Marlene jumped in.

"You and Sirius just did it, didn't you?" The blonde asked and Dany blushed.

"You did." Lily said and Dany nodded as she sat down on her bed. "What was it like?" She asked, unable to help herself. Dany bit her lip, as if she was torn between telling them to mind their own business and just telling them.

"Uh, it was okay…I mean I don't know what you want me to say, Lils." She said uncomfortably. Marlene seemed really excited by this. She had been waiting for one of them to lose their virginity for a while now, just so she could get the details.

"How was he about the fact you are…or were, a virgin?" She asked and Lily thought that Marlene's question was a valid one. Except Sirius had known the entire time she was a virgin. "You did tell him, didn't you?" She added on and Dany nodded.

"Yeah, I told him beforehand; he's known for a while, ever since Brady…I may or may not have mentioned that I refused to sleep with him and that was why we broke up." She said with a shrug. Lily noticed something on her neck.

"Dan, what's on your neck?" She asked and Dany looked confused before she realized what Lily was talking about. Her face turned bright red.

"Oh, that? That's just…well it's—yeah, I have no good excuse for that." She said, trying to come up with an answer. Marlene's mouth dropped open.

"Is that a hickey?" She asked and Dany smiled, unable to hide the fact that she thought that this entire conversation was ridiculous.

"That's what happens when you kiss a little too hard, Marlene." Dany said sarcastically, clearly amused.

"That's nice—real wholesome…was he any good?" Marlene prodded and judging by the look on her face, Marlene was verging on territory that Dany wasn't going to talk about.

"I think the better question is if he hurt you." Lily added on and Dany's face turned redder than it already was, if that was possible.

"I guess so…I don't have any experience so how would I know?" She said and Lily raised an eyebrow as if to say 'don't you ignore my question'. "And no Lily, he didn't hurt me outside of the unavoidable."

"Good. I didn't want to have to go beat him up…but I would have if he hadn't taken good care of you." Lily sniffed. Lily suspected that Sirius had gone to great lengths to keep her as comfortable as possible and she just wasn't saying so.

"Well that's one way to put it, Lily. I'm going to go shower, you guys; the sound of fresh clothes sounds really nice right now." She said before getting up and walking into the bathroom.

"Marlene, how invasive could you possibly get?" Lily chided the other girl and Marlene shrugged.

"I'm just curious…besides, sex is meant to be talked about." Marlene retorted and Lily shook her head.

"You know how they are; it's not like they're exactly super into public displays of affection. They like to keep anything more than quick kisses private. I personally think that it's really sweet." Lily commented and Marlene shrugged.

"I just think that it's sad that we're her best friends and we don't even know if he's a good snog. Especially you, Lils; you're like her bloody sister and she won't even tell you." Marlene said and Lily had to admit that she had a point.

"Yeah, but I still think it's sweet even though I'd like to know a little more than I do." Lily admitted, but still stuck to her original assessment. "I think that the privacy they both want is part of how different their relationship is—compared to his previous ones, I mean. Besides, she has told me that it's not just her that likes things private; Sirius wants all the privacy they can get." Lily said.

"You're saying that it's Mr. Snog Over Breakfast that wants all the hush-hush secrecy?" She asked and Lily thought about it for a second before nodding.

"A few years ago, Potter told me that Sirius had a list of things he wouldn't do in terms of girls. Potter thought that it was like his version of virginity and that he was waiting on someone he'd give it up for." Lily said. Marlene raised an eyebrow.

"You're saying that that was Dany? That he was waiting for her this entire time?" Marlene asked skeptically and Lily nodded.

"Just think about it; he willingly, happily even, traded in snogging over breakfast for holding hands and carrying his girlfriend's books. I mean you saw him kiss her the day we came back from Spring Break, same as I did; that wasn't meant for the public, that wasn't meant for anyone but them. To say that he doesn't want to put something that personal on display for the entire school to see wouldn't be that huge of a jump." Lily said.

"That's true; I never really thought about it…and of everyone I know, no one deserves a loving and caring relationship more than Dan does, especially after the complete fuckup that her relationship with Brady was." Marles said and Lily wholeheartedly agreed with that.

"He got what he deserved with an extra helping of vengeful Quidditch players, believe me." Lily said darkly.

"Does he ever kind of scare you sometimes?" Marlene asked quietly. Lily thought it over.

"Sirius?" Marlene nodded in confirmation. "A little…but I think that it's mainly his size. I mean he's what? 6 foot 4? 6 foot 5? He's tall and he's strong and I think that it's kind of intimidating sometimes. Why?" She asked. Marlene shrugged.

"I don't know. I mean he always seemed…not unstable exactly, but I guess volatile would be a good word for it. He's just not very even-keel and because he's so big it can be kind of scary when he gets pissed." Marlene admitted. Lily agreed with that, personally. "But then how he is with Dany…it's almost like he's a completely different person. It's not like he's on 'good behavior' or whatever, it's like her just being there genuinely changes him; she makes him softer and gentler—kinder, even. It confuses me sometimes. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?" Marlene said and Lily knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Yeah…she's good for him. And he's good for her too, I think. They're changing each other, even if they don't know it. I don't ever remember her being so in the moment and unworried." Lily said thoughtfully as the bathroom door opened.

"I'm going to go run down to the kitchens…you guys want anything?" Marlene asked suddenly and Lily shook her head and Dany declined from where she was walking out of the bathroom, toweling her hair.

"So, Danilynn. Do you feel like a changed woman now that you're no longer one us? You know, the Virgin Club." Lily asked teasingly and Dany shrugged.

"Not really. The only thing that's different is that I slept in the boys' room last night. I still feel like the same person." She said and Lily noticed her hickey was gone—hidden was more like it.

"Did it really hurt that much?" She asked, unable to help herself.

"It hurt, but not unbearably. It's not going to take you out, Lils. You'll survive, I promise." She said, leaned up against the doorframe of their bathroom.

"Was it worth it?" Lily asked. Dany smiled, giving her a silent answer.

James walked back into his room and saw that Sirius had finally decided to wake up, judging by the sound of running water coming from the bathroom. It had been weird that he hadn't gotten up to go running with Dany but had dismissed it, assuming that they had opted for a day off. James noticed that something was different about Sirius' bed now that the curtains were pulled back and in broad daylight: it looked like someone had gotten out of bed on both sides. James took a closer look at his friend's bed, as if he was looking for evidence to deny his suspicions.

Unfortunately, he only found confirmation: there was long, silver hair on the pillows. Dany had been in here last night. All of the boys kept silencing charms on their beds, so their snoring or sleep talking didn't wake anyone else up, but James hadn't considered that the charms would also be keeping him oblivious to the fact that his Godsister had been in her boyfriend's bed last night. Sirius walked out of the bathroom, obviously having just showered.

"Hey, Prongs." He said and James raised an eyebrow accusingly at him.

"Have a good night?" He asked and Sirius raised an eyebrow back at him.

"Yeah, I guess…why?"

"Just curious…it looked like you were pretty restless last night and you slept pretty late." He said and Sirius' eyes flicked to his bed. James didn't miss that his eyes widened once he realized that it was very obvious that he hadn't been alone last night. "So tell me Sirius, was I in here when you were taking my Godsister's virginity?" He asked and Sirius looked rather uncomfortable with that question.

"That depends on when you were in here." He said and James fought the urge to roll his eyes. He was so unabashed about sleeping with girls and James didn't want to hear about what Dany had said as Sirius touched parts of her that James didn't want to think about—in terms of his Godsister at least.

"I came in at about eleven last night." He said and Sirius shook his head.

"We were probably both asleep by then; talking maybe, but the sex was definitely over by eleven." He said with a shrug and pulled a shirt on.

"She stayed the night? You talked?" He asked disbelievingly, wondering if he was hearing correctly.

"Yeah…is that a problem?"

"No, no problem…so you two, um, slept together in your bed, then talked, and then she slept here. All night. My virginal Godsister." Sirius nodded. "That's four commandments gone right there, mate." James grinned and Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Way more than four, mate. Way more than four. And I still don't think that God would appreciate the Ten Commandments jokes." He said before waving his wand to make his bed.

"Well I haven't been struck down yet. How many, if not four?" He asked disbelievingly. Sirius had never broken any of the rules he had set himself, except he had broken plenty last night.

"Seven." He said and James said nothing. "What?"

"What's left? Actually, do I want to know this?" He asked and Sirius shrugged.

"Borrowing clothes and friends first, except I don't know if that one counts, and obviously there's Valentine's Day. The timing is clearly very wrong for that one." He said thoughtfully. James was shocked to say the least. Dany had managed to unknowingly get him to throw out years' worth of habits in a single night.

"So I don't want to hear any more about this except for one thing." James said, realizing that he was obliged to ask what brothers and fathers ask different versions of in all situations: did you treat her well?

"And what's that, James?" Sirius asked dryly. It was obvious he was becoming very done with this conversation.

"You didn't do that five-minute, half-hearted, no-meaning, impersonal shit that you usually do, did you?" He said and, much to his relief, Sirius shook his head.

"No, I didn't. I love her and I tried to make her as happy as I could, if you must know." He said and James clapped his hands over his ears.

"La-la-la-la! I'm hearing too much. Too much. She's like six in my world. Just a one word answer would have been enough." James said loudly as Sirius laughed at him. James seriously didn't want to think about his best friend…taking his time with a girl that James remembered in pigtails.

"You asked, mate."

The Charms practical was on a Monday afternoon and Dany spent pretty much the entire the night before having a meltdown because she was definitely going to fail the practical—even though she knew the theory inside and out. She was awful at Charms and everyone knew it and no one tried to tell her otherwise because if they had she would have just started shouting at them about how they were lying to make her feel better (James had learned this the hard way and had promptly told all of their friends so they didn't make the same mistake).

"Dany, love you're going to be fine." Sirius said to her as they waited to go into Flitwick's class for their practical. "The exam isn't going to kill you, I promise. No matter what happens, you're going to walk out of the room in one piece." He said soothingly as they all sat around the floor of the corridor. She nodded a little.

"What if I fail? What if I just forget how to do magic?" She asked, completely beyond the point of reasonable questions. The only thing she could think about was how her brother had gotten ten OWLs—all O's—when he had taken his—as had both of her parents. She was going to be the one to break tradition.

"You're not going to forget how to do magic. If you can't do magic, we're all fucked." Sirius said. "You need to calm down." She nodded a little.

"Sirius Orion Black." Professor Flitwick said from the door to his class. Sirius stood up and kissed Dany quickly.

"Love you." He murmured.

"Love you too. Good luck." She whispered and he left. She wouldn't see him again until after her exam as they left through another door to prevent cheating. Dany wasn't stupid enough to go near Lily—who was an inch away from insanity—so she just sat on the ground, trying to think through the spells she had been drilling into her head almost nonstop for the last month. Dany smiled a little at Lily when she went back and then Frank and then Remus. She was next. She was right after Remus alphabetically in their year.

"Danilynn Charlotte Masters." She stood up and Marlene, James, and Alice—the only ones left from her friend group waved a little and James shouted, "bloody kill it, Dan!" before Flitwick could scold him. Dany walked in and recognized one of the examiners. Amelia Bones. She smiled at her and Amelia smiled back a little, obviously not able to show favoritism. Either way, her presence was a reassurance.

"Danilynn Masters?" One of the examiners asked. Dany nodded. "May we see your wand?" She presented it to him and watched him look it over. "Yes…ten and a half inches, unicorn hair and maple. Unyielding. Is this correct?" Dany nodded. "Well Miss Masters, are you ready for your examination?" Um, no. Not at all. Could her boyfriend or best friend take it for her?

"Of course." She said with a smile, taking her wand back.

"Well, we'll start off slow and work our way up to your most current material, Miss Masters." Dany nodded. They seemed nice. She had heard that the examiners for Potions were nightmares. "If you wouldn't mind levitating this book?" She nodded. That was it? She flicked her wand at the book and it floated above the table it had been placed on. The examiners exchanged looks.

"Verbally, Danilynn." Amelia said with a small smile. Dany felt her face flush. "I understand your parents have emphasized wordless magic to you and your brother—he did the same thing a few years ago—but we need to hear the incantation to ensure that it's actually you performing the spell. Besides, that's a Sixth Year skill." She added and Dany levitated the book again, this time verbally.

"Good, now if you could change the color of this toad?" Another one of the examiners asked, gesturing to the frog on the table in front of her.

"Is there a particular color you're looking for?" She asked.

"Anything you can think of." She said kindly. Dany thought for a minute before turning it bright blue. "And one more time." Dany turned the frog a dark red. "Please enlarge this rat." Dany looked at the rat warily. "We asked for a cuter animal for this one, but were denied." She added and Dany suppressed a smile.

She must have been in there for over half an hour, but it was eventually over.

"You'll be receiving your results this summer, Miss Masters. Congratulations on completing your Charms OWL." One of the examiners said, shaking her hand. "Please exit out the door over to the right."

"Thank you so much." She said and headed for the door, closing it behind her just as she heard Marlene called into the exam room.

"And?" Dany jumped, looking around only to notice that she had walked right by Sirius, who appeared to be waiting for her. "Evans says to tell you that you need to revise for Transfiguration tomorrow." He said and she smiled a little.

"I did everything right. I didn't fuck up at all." She said, letting the words sink into her own brain. "I actually did really well." Sirius grinned and kissed her.

"See? You're brilliant just like the rest of your family and you didn't forget how to do magic. Come on, let's go before McKinnon catches us snogging on her way out." He said and Dany laughed.

"Let's go outside; it's beautiful out and I need fresh air before Lily locks me into a studying hell." Dany said and started to pull him towards the doors out to the Black Lake. "I don't watch enough sunsets." She mused as they sat on the grass. "I see the sunrise every morning, but I don't remember the last time I just sat and watched the sun set." Sirius moved so she was sitting between his legs and pulled her hair out of its ponytail, running his fingers through it a few times.

"There's no time like the present, love." He said. Dany leaned back against Sirius' chest, put her head on his shoulder, and absently played with his fingers as they watched the sun dip below the lake.

"I knew one of the examiners." Dany said as she and Sirius walked back to the common room holding hands.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, the woman with the glasses on the far right. Her name's Amelia Bones—she's Mom's friend. She's from Law Enforcement though; I don't know why she'd be at an exam."

"Maybe so no one goes psycho under all the stress and kills the examiners." Sirius suggested, making Dany laugh. "I could see Evans doing that. She hits her breaking point and just starts throwing curses everywhere."

"My best friend isn't a murderer, Sirius Black." Dany said, despite it seeming more realistic by the day.

"Lily's your best friend? What does that make me?" He asked and she stopped him to wrap her arms around his neck.

"You don't shag your best friend, Sirius. I mean if you really want the title that bad, we can stop—"

"I take it back. She can be your best friend. Boyfriend is the better title anyways." He said and kissed her, making her laugh.

"That's what I thought." She said and they continued walking. "One down. Nine to go." Dany sighed, closing her eyes momentarily as they walked.

"Nine to go." He agreed. "Oh shit." He muttered and Dany looked around for what would have caused that. It was Brady and Kenzie standing in the corridor.

"Is it too late to turn around or have they seen us?" Dany muttered. Just as she said it, they turned to look at them. "Never mind. Too late." She sighed and Sirius adjusted the hold on her hand, lacing their fingers together tighter. "Anyways, what are the odds that Lily's already sent out a search party to find us? We have to be studying all the time, you know." Dany asked, changing the subject. Sirius snorted.

"What time is it? Almost eight? She's probably convinced James to pull out the Map by now to find us. She really needs to stop and calm down every now and then." Sirius commented as they started to approached Brady and Kenzie.

"It's Lily. She'll stop when she's dead." Dany said, thinking about her friend.

"Hey, Dan." Brady said. Dany ignored him. "One of my mates said to pass on a message to you. He says thanks for last night." She felt Sirius' hand shift in hers. He knew they were lying as much as she did—they had been together all last night, studying. "I told him that you'd shag him if he paid, but he didn't believe me so thanks for proving me right." He said. Kenzie giggled and Dany looked at him.

"What are you? Twelve? Act like a damn adult for once, Brady—it doesn't hurt, I promise." She sighed, turning back around and following the hand that was gently tugging on hers, asking her to walk away from this.

"Oi, Black—I'd think about getting tested. After all of those blokes, there's no way she's clean. I've been telling anyone I know the same. It's becoming a matter of public health." Brady added and Sirius turned around. His patience was being tested.

"Do you want to go another round, Harris? I'd be more than happy to land you back in St. Mungo's for another couple months." He hissed.

"Please, like I'm supposed to be scared? You're all talk and everyone knows it." Brady snorted and Dany thought that was highly inaccurate. Brady probably should have thought the same.

"I don't know, am I? Let's find out." He snapped and tried to move back towards Brady. Dany started pushing him away.

"Sirius, walk away. Come on, let's go." She said and pushed him away from Brady and Kenzie. "By the way, Brady—I never asked how long it took to clear up the boils in all those unpleasant private parts. How long did you have to go without it, Kenzie?" Dany asked, looking at the other girl. "Wait, I meant to ask how long did you go without it from him." She added before walking off, dragging Sirius with her.