1 March 1997

Hogsmeade was quite cold that morning even though it was less than a month away from spring, Mia thought as she walked, arm in arm with Sirius through the little village's empty streets. The visit from the students of Hogwarts had been cancelled. Again. She couldn't say it wasn't to be expected after Katie Bell had ended up badly cursed by a necklace she'd mysteriously acquired during one of the visits. Last McGonagall had told her, the young girl was just beginning to recover after having spent months comatose in St. Mungo's but it would still be weeks before she was able to come back to school. Now that Mia thought of it, she wasn't sure if she should be sorry for the kids not coming or relieved they'd be staying within the school grounds… Things had been frighteningly quiet lately.

The lack of attacks lately had kept them, the order and the newspapers wondering what Voldemort was planning next: some sort of massive catastrophic attack? A deeply covered infiltration? Over a month with nothing but three victim-free amateurish moves against muggles wasn't normal at all. They were being played – that was the truth. And no news felt much worse than bad news. Even now as she walked, she knew that, by her side, Sirius had his hand shoved into his pocket, where he clutched his wand, ready for any eventual attack. The simple thought that they had to be alert all the time was just revolting.

"You're awfully silent," her husband pointed out lightly, tightening just a little the arm that was wrapped around her. "Don't tell me you're worrying about the kids. Uncle Moony and Auntie Tonks will manage them on their own for sure. Or at least they'd better – see it as training for any future little Lupins."

She looked up at him and smiled. "I'm not worried about them. Kreacher's there, he'll help them if they need it. I was just thinking about this Hogsmeade visit having been cancelled," she said.

Sirius groaned. "I hated when that happened in our time. All those weeks planning…"

"… making sure you didn't take the same girl twice as your date…"

"… thinking what the guys and I needed to restock at Zonko's and Honeydukes," he said, ignoring her last addition. "It just sucked seeing it all ruined."

"I should probably point out that many of these times you couldn't come to Hogsmeade was because you and James had done something that had gotten you into detention," Mia stated with a smile as they walked beyond the village's limits.

He groaned. "Detention during Hogsmeade weekends should be forbidden by law. But I was referring to visits altogether cancelled, not those when only James and I couldn't come. The kids are probably all frustrated in the castle. Especially Ron, according to what Harry told me – it's his birthday today."

"Well, there's a good reason for this one to have been cancelled," she said with a more serious expression on her face. "You wouldn't want another one stuck in St. Mungo's for months the way Katie Bell has been, would you?"

"Of course not," he quickly assured her. "I'm just saying it sucks the kids can't do something they really like because of this… You-Know-Who crap. Anyway, I still wonder who gave the necklace to Katie. The aurors had been watching the village all around – it would be nearly impossible for a Death Eater sneak into Hogsmeade. It had to be done from the inside."

Mia sighed and stopped walking as they approached the Shrieking Shack, knowing what was coming. "And the top of your list of possible responsibles goes for…"

"Malfoy and Snape," he said plainly.

"The usual suspects," she said, dryly. "I'm shocked."

"Well, it's not my fault they're pretentious bastards who seem shady as hell all the time," he told her. "Harry agrees with me."

"Well, you're both biased by the fact that you don't like either of them at all," Mia told him simply. "You especially with Snape. Dumbledore trusts him – don't you think you should give him a chance?"

He looked annoyed. "Why is it that, all of a sudden you're defending Snape?"

She sighed, sitting on a large boulder. "Look, you know I'm not particularly fond of him either – he's bitter towards everyone, an awful teacher and treats my kids like criminals. But he was Lily's friend. Alright, I accept that maybe Dumbledore was capable of trusting too much but Lily… she wouldn't be friends with a completely awful person."

He took a deep breath, knowing that was a dodgy matter. "They stopped being friends long before she was killed, Mia. She wouldn't have ended a friendship lightly either. He called her a Mudblood – that doesn't seem to me like something a good friend would do."

"I think he regrets it – he gave Malfoy the detention of a lifetime in Harry's second year for calling Hermione a Mudblood. That sounds significant to me," she stated.

"Too little, too late."

Mia huffed in frustration. "Well, you lied to me and risked your life last year in a way that hurt me enormously and I still forgave you, Sirius." She immediately regretted saying that, seeing him visibly tense. She got up and approached her husband, remaining behind him as he stood still and rested one hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"It's fine," he mumbled without looking at her. "I get the point."

She could tell he was upset and moved in order to stand opposite him. "No, I really am sorry for bringing that up. I had no right." She tentatively wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his chest. She was hoping the physical contact would confirm to him the fact that she was really sorry. "I didn't do it to upset you – I'm just trying to prove the point that people do hurtful things without thinking and they still deserve forgiveness." She sighed against his chest, feeling his tension disappear slowly. "Can this be one of these times? I meant every word when I told you we'd put what happened past us. It just… seemed like a good example. Stupid."

His hands finally moved to her, one resting on her back and the other on her hair. "It's okay. I do get what you were trying to say but…" He sighed, trying to think of what to say next and she pulled away slightly, just enough so she was looking up at him. "Look, I love you for everything you are and trying to give Snape the benefit of the doubt even though he's always been an arse to you is, well, part of you. But not of me. I guess he and I are just this kind of people that are born to hate each other – if I ever considered trusting him, Mia, it would have to be for a very good, life of death, reason. And I'm pretty sure it's the same with Harry and Malfoy. Some things you cannot change."

Mia sighed. "I guess I knew that deep down," she mumbled. "I still say Lily wouldn't have been his friend of there wasn't good in him."

He sighed. Some part of him – the part where his loyalty to Lily and James lay – hopes it was true. "Well, even I know it would be awfully tasteless to make a wager on his allegiances, so how about we drop it instead? Moony mentioned the twins would be here this morning to check on Zonko's old shop for their new branch – we could drop by there and take a look ourselves and then a grab a butterbeer with them at the Three Broomsticks before we go pay the kids a visit at Hogwarts."

"Hum, since it's still ten in the morning and way too early to grab a butterbeer, I'll have to insist we visit the kids first and then go meet the twins," Mia pointed out.

He sighed. "You're no fun at all."

She smiled. "Sure I'm not."

He chuckled. "Fine, we'll go see the kids first. But can I at least have butterbeer for lunch? Only butterbeer? I'm in a drinking mood today."

Mia rolled her eyes as he wrapped one arm around her and they resumed walking back to the other side of the village, where the Hogwarts gates were. "You're such a kid."

"Well, aren't we all?"

Someone had to be kidding him – someone really had, Harry thought as he and Ginny all but dragged Ron all the way from the Common Room to Slughorn's office.

Sure, he'd known things between Ron and Lavender weren't all that good lately. It was ridiculous how only a few weeks before they'd been snogging every waking moment and now his best friend had turned to see Lav-Lav as some sort of plague to avoid most of the time. Not that he felt at all saddened by that fact. Truth was, as Ginny kept saying, being around Lavander was like swimming in a pool of the most mushy and annoying traits a human being could possibly get. The fact that she wasn't evil was a point in her favour yet he hoped, for Lavender's sake, that she'd grow become a less… flashy person. But for now, why Ron wouldn't just go ahead and break up with her instead of avoiding her was a mystery to him…

However, no matter how bad Ron's relationship with Lavender was, the last thing he would have expected his best friend to be doing in their dorm in the morning of his birthday was a love declaration… directed to an absent Romilda Vane. If he'd thought something was wrong by the time he heard the desperate and pitiful pledges of love, he was sure of it in the minute Ron attacked him because of believing it was a very elaborate joke. Who could blame him, really? It sounded like a joke.

By the time he had Ron restrained just so no fists would hit his face that day, the answer to his best friend's odd behaviour came in the form of Chocolate Cauldrons – love-potion-spiked Chocolate cauldrons. Harry could barely remember when Romilda had offered those to him – certainly before Christmas. He vaguely recalled her intercepting him on his way to the dorm after an exhausting Quidditch practice and accepting those chocolates just to get her off his back, only to throw them into his trunk and never think of them again. It was irony in its best form – if Ron hadn't been such a glutton and launched himself at the chocolates when Harry had taken them off his trunk while looking for something in it, he wouldn't have gotten himself in that pickle.

So, after he'd managed to calm Ron down, convinced him to accompany him to Slughorn's office under the cover that Romilda was there, Ginny – who he was supposed to have been hanging out with instead of his love-stricken best friend – offered to accompany him and Ron down to Slughorn's office. That was, after she and Izzy mocked the redheaded boy for some good ten minutes – he had to admit it was hard not to…

"You know, I still think we should have just set him loose and had a laugh with whatever he did," Ginny whispered to Harry as she walked by his side. "He had it coming for all the bad imagery of him snogging Lavender that has been haunting my nightmares."

As he firmly secured Ron's arm with his hand – Merlin knew what a bloke under the influence of love potions past its expiration time could do if they lost him – Harry allowed himself to laugh for a moment before he felt a pang of sympathy for his best friend. "It's his birthday, Gin. We should be hexed for letting him make more of a fool of himself than he already has."

She sighed. "Let me tell you you're too nice for your own good, Mr. Potter." But then, despite the disapproving tone of her voice, she smiled up at him for a moment. "I suppose we could be merciful for a day. But if the twins got him in a situation like this instead of my magnanimous self…"

"I can imagine how that would turn out," Harry said with a laugh before pulling Ron back to the right way as he started to move the wrong one. "Down the staircase, mate, not up," he told him.

Ron mumbled a 'thanks' and eagerly returned to the right path – he seemed to be jumping between ecstatic and thoughtfully-silent modes, though he'd been sticking with the latter since Ginny had lied to him and said Romilda liked contained blokes.

Harry turned back to his girlfriend. "Where were we? Ah, the twins. If it was up to them, he'd be proposing to Romilda by the end of the day."

"Eloping if they found a way to pull it off," she added with a grin. "I ought to pay back that little tart for this. Trying to drug my boyfriend with love-potion – drugging my brother. Bloody minx. When I get my hands on her, she'll he sniffing bats for a week!"

He spoke dryly. "We'll have a detention date, then. How's your Tuesday? Snape's got me cleaning the detention files again. I'm about to reach the hundredth detention slip on Sirius and my dad together and I haven't gotten past their fourth year yet."

"Prolific detentioneers, I see," she observed with an amused smile.

Ron suddenly turned to face the couple. "What are you two whispering about? Is it Romilda? Did she say something about me?"

Ginny nodded, a mocking glint in her eyes. "No, Harry and I were only discussing the colour of his robes for your wedding with Romilda. The best man has to look good." She turned to her boyfriend. "You'd look lovely in green."

Even though he knew she was kidding, he blushed. "Thanks. Er… so would you."

Ron sighed dreamily and returned to thoughtfully-silent mode, likely imagining Romilda in white… Just as they reached Slughorn's floor, they quite literally ran into Sirius and Mia, who were climbing up.

"Wow, hey, kid. We were just going up to say hello to you. Hi there, Ginny," Sirius said.

"Hi," the redheaded girl replied with a smile.

"Er… Izzy's upstairs at the common room. We need to take care of a small thing now but it shouldn't take long. We'll meet you there," Harry said quickly, hoping they wouldn't notice Ron's state. It would only be more embarrassing for him…

He wasn't so lucky, as Mia quickly saw it. "What's wrong with him? Is he ill? Ron?"

"I'm in love," he said in a deliriously happy tone.

"Good for you," Sirius said, clapping him on the back. "Finally put the pieces together with Hermione?"

Ron shot him an appalled look like Sirius had just implied he was in love with the giant squid instead. "Hermione? No. Romilda. My sweet, pretty…" He stopped talking and sighed, leaning against the stair's novel post before letting out an overly dramatic sigh.

Sirius turned to Harry with a confused look on his face. "Hum? Romilda? As in Vane?" Babbs's daughter, he thought in disgust.

"Long story. He accidentally took some love potion," Harry explained. "We're taking him to Slughorn for some antidote."

Mia looked at Ron with concern all over her face. "I don't know, Harry, maybe Madam Pomfrey would be more adequate for something like this."

Harry shook his head. "No, the seventh years were brewing the antidote for love-potions in Slughorn's class last week – he probably has plenty of it stashed. No need to go bother Madam Pomfrey – she'd ask too many questions and it would be too embarrassing for him…" Also it would give him a good excuse to talk to the old teacher and ask him for the bit of information Dumbledore had requested from him, which had Slughorn avoiding him lately…

"More than it already is?" Sirius asked with a grin as Ron was all sighs right opposite him – he could almost see the heart-shaped smoke coming out of the boy's ears. Sirius snorted. "Boy, he's got it bad… Why don't you improvise some poetry for her, Ron? I bet she'd be impressed."

"Poetry… I…" He paused, seemingly composing the poem in his head.

"Merlin, please don't give him more ideas – he wouldn't shut up earlier," Harry said with an exasperated tone

"You know, you could just leave him like that for a while longer, fetch a camera and snap a few pictures of what he does."

"I completely agree," Ginny pointed out. "But Harry insists it's wrong doing that on his birthday."

"Because it is," he stated, turning to Sirius. "Did you ever do that to my father? Snap picture of him drunk?"

He grinned. "You should try a revealing charm on those 'empty' pages of his wedding album, that's all I'm saying. But I'm sure Fred and George would pay a good price any of those pict… ouch!" he complained as Mia shoved her elbow into his ribs. "What was that for? I wasn't saying anything wrong…"

"Of course you weren't," Mia said sarcastically. "This is serious! He could hurt himself or do something really stupid."

Ginny huffed. "Like praising Romilda's buttocks in front of me and Izzy, not to mention Hermione who'd just walked in? Yeah, he's already done that."

"I reckon Hermione's handprint won't leave his face for a few hours," Harry mumbled.

"Hermione doesn't understand our love," Ron said, lamely. "It's so beautiful, so…"

"…nauseating," Ginny offered under her breath.

Still worried, Mia lifted two fingers in front of him. "How many of these do you see, Ron?"

The redhead let out a sigh. "Two. I see just fine – I just don't see Romilda…" He turned to Harry. "Can we head to Slughorn's now?"

Harry shot his godmother a look that clearly begged her to just go along with it.

She sighed. "Fine. Take him to Slughorn. But if he doesn't get better…"

"Madam Pomfrey. We got it," Ginny assured her, grabbing her brother's arm before he had a chance to start walking there on his own.

Sirius looked rather disappointed. "Is there at least any chance you could provide some memories for pensieve screening?" he asked, earning a disapproving look from his wife. "For study purpose, only, of course. The twins need to be aware of the consequences of their love potions…"

"Study purposes my arse. You really need to start working on your excuses, Sirius. If Mary could speak already, even she could say that was rubbish," Mia told him with a sceptical look on her face.

"It was not that bad…"

"Well, I guess we'll leave them here to discuss that on their own," Harry mumbled to Ginny as they motioned to walk away. "Meet you guys later, then," he told his godparents with a chuckle before they told him to meet them in the kitchens later in stead of the Common Room – it would probably make a few students uncomfortable having two teachers hanging out in their Common Room.

Later, just as they were reaching Slughorn's office and Ron was nearly impossible to put up with due to all the excitement of seeing Romilda, Harry turned to Ginny and whispered in her year. "So, how long are you planning to tease him about this love potion thing?"

"Oh, longer than any calendar can mark," she said with a smile.

Little did they know that, in a matter of minutes, laughing would be the farthest thing away from their minds…

Mia couldn't help finding it odd that one hour had already passed since Harry and Ginny had taken Ron to Slughorn's office and they still hadn't made it to the kitchens. But then again, Slughorn could talk for hours and hours with no end – or at least that was with Elizabeth said. Mia wouldn't know since, unlike her two best friends, she hadn't been a member of the Slug Club.

"… and apparently, since the owner of Zonko's has vanished and the shop was closed, the twins want to buy it and make a new branch in there," Sirius was telling his daughter as they sat by a long wooden table.

"Oh, are they moving here?" Izzy asked eagerly. "It's nice having them around. George mentioned over the holidays that Fred and Angelina are getting serious. He joked that sometime this year he might end up getting kicked out of the flat for her to move there."

Sirius snorted. "Well, unless Fred and George are planning to still share a house after they're married and have kids, they will have to start warming up to the idea of moving away from each other. But it's them – living together or not, they'll always be the twins. Now, give me that," he said, nicking the plate of treacle tart he and Izzy had managed to charm away from the house elves and taking a spoonful of it. Then, he glanced at Mia, noting how silent she was, not even having scolded him and Izzy for spoiling their lunches with the tart. "Your mom is not with us," he whispered Izzy, who chuckled.

"Doesn't look like she is," she agreed with a chuckle. She cleared her throat and raised her voice. "How's the view from the moon, Mom?"

Mia turned to them, confused. "Hum?"

"Welcome back," Sirius said with a grin. "We're assuming your mind was just lost somewhere in deep space since you looked so absent."

"I was just thinking," she said, turning her face to the portrait-covered doorway, which had just suddenly sounded open. McGonagall stepped in, looking pale and grim and Mia knew immediately that something was wrong. "What happened? Is it Harry?"

McGonagall shook her head. "Miss Weasley. Ginny. She was poisoned."

At the table, Izzy immediately dropped her fork and got up in a flash, paling as well. "Ginny? What…? When…? Is she…?"

"Poppy says she should be alright thanks to Harry. He fed her a bezoar just in time," McGonagall assured her before Izzy or anyone else had the time to ask if she was even alive. "He mentioned you were here and I thought you ought to be there with him for…"

They were already heading to the Hospital Wing before she could finish, Sirius leading the way, his arm supporting his daughter's frame. It didn't matter that McGonagall said she was going to be fine – they needed to know. Ginny was family, she was the best thing that had happened in Harry's life. It was their duty to be there when she needed and to be there when Harry needed them.

When they reached the Hospital Wing's corridor, not more than four or five minutes after having left the kitchens, it was easy to spot their godson. He silently sat on the stone floor in front of the infirmary's large doors with his knees bent and his back supported by the wall while a bench lay forgotten only a few feet away. His face was awfully pale and tense, not to mention he appeared to be looking at the infinite, no doubt terrified from having just seen his girlfriend nearly die. Sitting with him were Ron and Hermione, any sign of hostility between the latter two gone in benefit of helping each other and Harry through Ginny's situation.

"Harry," Mia called as she approached.

Her godson lifted his head to see them and immediately motioned to stand up. Before he could even think of saying anything, Mia took a step in his direction and wrapped him in a firm, motherly hug, rubbing his back as she held him. He held back just as strongly.

Harry seemed to relax a little against her, recalling that, as far as he could remember, Mia had always been there to give him a hug when he needed. Before, when he was little and only bad dreams or easily solved matters haunted him, that simple gesture used to make everything bad go away. Now that the world had revealed itself to him – the bad and the ugly taking the lead – his godmother's hugs were only a temporary fix. Yet, he'd always be thankful for them. He'd needed one especially then.

"Are you okay?" Mia asked as she pulled away and saw from the corner of her eye McGonagall slipping discretely into the Hospital Wing.

He nodded faintly. "She… it was so fast. One minute we were laughing, the other she was just…"

"It's okay, honey. She'll be okay," Mia told him softly, quietly nudging him in the direction of the bench while Sirius followed her along with Izzy. While she sat down with Harry, the other too remained on their. "Can you tell me how it happened or would you rather not?"

"I… It was an accident. Or at least I think it was. Slughorn looked shocked too," he rambled. "After he fixed Ron with the antidote for the love potion, Slughorn offered us all a drink of mead because, you know, it's Ron's birthday and it was already going pretty badly… I don't think the bottle was ever opened before – it looked sealed before he opened it, you know? We all got served a glass of it and Ginny took a small sip right away just to know what it tasted like…"

"She always does that when she'd drinking or eating something she's never had before," Izzy said as she stood by her father's side.

Harry nodded. "Says it's to avoid bad surprises." The irony… "Then, Slughorn had barely started to say a toast and she just started breathing really shallowly and then dropped to the floor convulsing." His body went cold just by remembering that. "Slughorn just stopped thinking and Ron kneeled near her, shouting her name. Then I remembered the book – it said a bezoar could cure any type of poison and I knew there was one in Slughorn's potion kit… Ginny got better when I gave it to her." He gritted his teeth. "I should have just listened to you, aunt Mia. I should have come straight here and not to Slughorn's."

Instead of Mia, Sirius was the one to intervene by shaking his head. "It would've happened sooner or later, kid. Maybe not to Ginny but probably to Slughorn himself. You know the old guy loves his booze – someday he'd have downed the whole bottle by himself and there wouldn't have been anyone around to shove and bezoar down his throat and save his life. Don't even think of blaming yourself for that, Harry."

"You saved her life," Izzy said in a low, respectful tone. "Again."

Harry sighed, thinking he'd been so close to freezing like Slughorn had, and then gulped. "They won't let me go in and see her. Madam Pomfrey said I had to wait. I need to know Ginny is really alright."

"I'm sure she is…" Mia started.

"But I need to see. I love her." All the times he'd allowed himself to imagine a future with Ginny, he'd only allowed himself to think that if they didn't get a chance was because he hadn't made it through the war – he'd never considered she might not make it. "I can't lose her."

"It probably won't be long before you're allowed in," Sirius said. He felt sympathetic about it – not so long before, he's been the one craving for news. He'd been the one feeling his heart unsteady because the woman he loved was in bad shape. "It's Ginny – sooner than you'll know, that one will be here shooting bat-bogey hexes at anyone that dares annoy her."

They spent several more minutes waiting until Mia managed to get herself inside Madam Pomfrey's domain in order to get some news from how Ginny was doing. Arthur and Molly soon showed up with the twins escorted by Dumbledore, their faces blank as well, and, even before going in to see their daughter, the plump redhead woman enveloped Harry in a tearful tight hug, thanking him over and over for saving her daughter's life.

"Harry, what can we say? You saved Ginny in the chamber… you saved Arthur from the snake last year… now Ginny again…" Molly sobbed as he awkwardly patted her back. "We owe you so much…"

Mia approached, coming from the infirmary and gave them a smile. "She's starting to wake up. Poppy says a couple of people can come in. Molly, Arthur, I suppose you want to…"

Arthur nodded. "Yes, we'll go. But Harry's coming with is. We'll talk Poppy into letting us all in."

"Yes, Ginny will want to see you, dear," Molly told Harry, drying her eyes with a handkerchief her husband had gave her earlier. "Come along."

"She'll be alright," Mia assured him one more time, gripping his shoulder before Harry followed his girlfriend's parents inside. The, she looked around and took a breath. Izzy seemed to be calmer too, sitting with Ron and Hermione talking in hushed tones as a group of curious students watched from the end of the corridor. Things had turned out well… that time.

Only a few feet away from them, Dumbledore spoke with Slughorn about the incident and one single sentence concerning the poisoned bottle caught their attention. "…got it from the Three Broomsticks last December as a present… for you, Albus."

Sirius and Mia's eyes met for a moment and they quietly left for an empty balcony just around the corner.

"First the necklace, not the bottle," Sirius said. "They really are trying to off Dumbledore."

Mia nodded, feeling chilly and not just from the wind. "And they don't really care if anyone else is harmed for it."

"Well, looks like the attacks haven't stopped, after all," he said.

"No, they've just gotten subtler," Mia agreed, worried.

"Can't tell which is worse, honestly," Sirius said. "This or the other attacks." The not knowing, the unexpected… he hated it. He feared it, he admitted with a sigh. "And I'm not sure I want to find out…"

A/N: So sorry for the late chapter but, well, I had no way of updating later. I'll just say this: dumb anti-virus, contamined laptop that was useless for a few days, several files currupted among which was the original version of the chapter... no backup. Backup your files, people. take my advice... Anyway, I hope you like the chapter even though this version was written in little more than a day. Feedback is welcome. Review!