A/N: First of all, sorry about the later chapter guys but there was no way around it. Second of all, this chapter is dedicated to my little sister and very first fan, Belle whose birthday is today! (Features her favourite character and namesake as requested)

The second day of June started out promising it would be a lazy day for Sirius and by mid afternoon it seemed to be willing to keep that promise up. No owls bringing worrying messages, no floo-calls fetching them somewhere and leave them stuck there for hours… just a Saturday – no, a weekend – in all its glory. So much glory, Sirius mused, that he feared that just by thinking it was so glorious he might jinx it and he definitely didn't want that.

If he was honest, he'd have to admit that week-days weren't that much of a pain for him. His work at Hogwarts couldn't be farther from stressing, after all: besides the flying lessons, a few hours aiding the house teams every week and occasionally keeping an eye on the Defence Club for Dumbledore, he had plenty of time for himself. Only bad thing about that: Mia was usually busy during those many free hours of his and without her around, well, his wide range of activities to occupy his time, so to speak, were narrowed down to little more than half a dozen different choices that weren't half as exciting… Pitiful how ninety percent of the entertaining activities that would run through his mind were based on Mia… undressed if possible, he thought sheepishly.

He didn't have the time to feel bad for his thoughts as suddenly he felt something wet and sticky splashing him on the face, followed by a baby coo.

There was a five second pause during which Sirius registered what happened before he slowly turned his face down to his lap, where his youngest daughter (whom he was supposed to have been finishing feeding her mid-afternoon meal) sat supported by his arm. There, Mary Black was apparently entertained with sticking her tiny hand into her mouth. A hand, he observed, that had clearly found its way into the apple mash bowl that he'd placed on the chair next to his for a moment while lost in thought, splashing the gooey substance all over his face, her own and the nearby furniture – no doubt, if it wasn't for Kreacher's habit of using basic stain repelling charms on everyone's clothing when doing the laundry, his clothes and the baby's would have been added to that list of casualties.

"You think that was funny, don't you?" he asked the baby, who replied with a look as confused as a five-month-old could manage after her father carefully moved the bowl of food to somewhere out of her arm-waving radius. "Like to see Daddy with food all over his face, hum?" He shook his head with eyes narrowed in disapproval and pointed her finger at her warningly. "Bad baby."

It was pretty obvious Mary hadn't understood the scolding since she innocently gave her father a radiant smile and giggled, reaching up to his arm with her food covered little hand, making his heart melt a little.

Sirius sighed and couldn't help smiling back as he reached for a napkin lying on the kitchen table that he used to clean his daughter's tiny hand. "How's it possible for you to make such a mess being as small as you are? No, worse, how can someone possibly stay angry at you, little girl?" he asked – not expecting any answer – as he cleaned some splashes of apple mash that had landed on her face before taking care of removing the gooey substance from his own face, nevertheless missing several of the splash residues. Sirius sighed. "You're going to give me trouble one day, aren't you?If I'm not careful, one of these days you'll show up on my doorstep with some brainless punk telling me you two want to elope in the Maldives and all it will take for me to book and pay you the portkeys myself will be that smile of yours …" He shook his head and looked down at Mary, sighing. "There should be some sort of way for you babies to stay babies forever."

Mary cooed and shoved her little hand back into her mouth to chew it, looking up at her father with wide open observing brown eyes that matched her mothers' in every way Sirius could think of.

As he felt himself melt a little more, Sirius sighed. "I'm so doomed," he murmured as the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs that connected the kitchen to the upper floors reached his ears. When he shifted his hold on Mary and turned his face to the door, Mia was stepping into the room and getting ready to place Alex on the floor, which the little boy seemed to be rather happy about, running straight to Kreacher, who'd been busy doing Merlin knew what by the kitchen sink.

"Have you finished feeding her already?" Mia asked casually, distracted with keeping one eye on their son just to make sure he was entertained with the house-elf.

"Practically, yeah," Sirius told his wife as she turned to look back at him. Suddenly, an amused look seemed to cover her face, which made Sirius raise a suspicious eyebrow. "What are you grinning at?"

She approached the chair where he sat and settled herself on the one next to his. "I was just observing my husband's handsome face. I mean, handsome when it doesn't have unidentified substances all over it," his wife told him, chuckling.

It took him a fragment of a second to realize what she meant. "Oh, that… well, you can blame it your daughter," he replied, nodding down at the baby on his lap. "Mary here thought it was funny to give herself and Daddy and apple mash facial. Does wonders to your skin."

The smile only widened on Mia's face as she reached for a napkin. "I'm sure it will revolutionize the cosmetic industry. Here, let me take care of it. Turn your face sideways," she commanded to her husband, who promptly obeyed, allowing her to swipe the little splashes of food from his face.

"You done?" he asked her several seconds later as she pulled the napkin away from his face.

She pretended to consider it. "No, not quite yet. Look at me."

He did as she said and, seconds later, saw her placing the napkin down on the table and reaching with her hands for his face, cupping it before she leaned towards him and touched his lips softly with her own. The kiss lasted for several seconds – maybe minutes even – and tasted, as always, sweeter than the best treat he'd ever had. Just like it had as long as he could remember kissing her. It's was Mary's annoyed whimper on her father's lap that made them break apart a few seconds later.

"Okay, I think I'm done now," she whispered against his lips.

"You sure?" he asked, feeling rather feisty. "I think Mary here can handle a few more seconds before resorting to full-blown crying to get our attention. I think I still have a little bit of apple mash right here." He pointed at his own lips for illustration and grinned.

Mia chuckled and gave him a quick peck there instead, which was far from what he intended. "Let's not risk it. We both know she can be pretty loud if she wants to," she told her husband before pulling further away from him in order to look down at the annoyed little girl and pick her up, holding her against her chest while she rubbed her little back.

Sirius groaned, pouting half-heartedly before he noticed something else on the opposite side of the counter: Alex trying to reach up the kitchen counter in order to lay his hands on the cookie jar. Chuckling, Sirius stood up and motioned to approach the culprit. "You know, mate, you either need to figure out chairs are handy objects to climb on when you want to reach high stuff or to grow a few more inches to get your hands on the cookies."

Alex squealed and looked up at his father with a grin that so closely matched his. "I wanna cookie, Daddy!" the little boy asked.

"What's the magic word, mate?" Sirius asked him back.

"Chauwclat cookie!"

"I think what your Mom keeps telling you to say is 'please' but never mind it," he replied dryly, picking his son up from the floor and reaching inside the cookie jar to fetch one for his son. "Don't tell your mother I gave you that."

Mia snorted from her seat. "That might actually work if I wasn't sitting six feet away and watching you feed junk to our son."

Sirius turned and gave her a shameless grin, getting a cookie for himself too. "They taste too good to be junk, love. Want one?" he offered, putting the little boy back on the floor.

She sighed, knowing that was a hopeless matter, and dropped it, changing the subject. "Elizabeth owled earlier inviting us for dinner today at the Leaky Cauldron with her and her kids," Mia told him, placing Mary down on her push chair, allowing little Alex to stand by it, watching his baby sister which he seemed to still find highly intriguing as, from time to time, he could go on doing it for hours.

Sitting back, Sirius groaned for several reasons. "Today? I thought today was supposed to be our lazy day. We'd just stay in the house enjoying a little time with the kids and then when they were napping enjoy a little time on our own."

Mia rolled her eyes. "Isn't a lazy morning enough for you? Because I'm pretty sure that only leaving the bedroom after eleven because Mary was crying her lungs out classifies this morning as lazy."

"I dunno if it's a good idea, Mia. I mean, are you intending to take the kids too? In case you don't know, the Quidditch League finals are today and, if I recall it well, the Leaky tends to get pretty crowded with the people celebrating afterwards. Doesn't seem like a great place for two kids under three-years-old."

"Well, I'm sure we'll be out of there by the time the game is over but I guess you're probably right about it not being a good idea taking the kids and risk us getting stuck in the celebrations…"

"So, what? We leave them with Lulu?"

She shook her head. "She and Gabe are out for the weekend and I definitely don't want to contact her unless it's an emergency. Molly's been asking me for weeks to let her borrow the kids, though. I'm pretty sure she won't mind watching them for the evening today," she said, giving him a little smile – one they scarcely missed was babysitters, thank Merlin. "Come on, Sirius. Today looks like a pretty good day, prefect for us to go out for a walk outside."

"Except it's cloudy all over," he replied.

It was cloudy all the time, now that he mentioned it. And that brought him back to the main reason why he was reluctant to go out. Muggles blamed the constant cloudy weather on the climate, Wizards, though, knew better, and blamed it on the dozens of Dementors lurking around London. Last sighting had been only a couple of days before not far from St. Paul's Cathedral and the aurors had needed to intervene in order to keep one of them from kissing a barmy homeless bloke. It was a miracle nobody had their soul stolen yet. Or at least that there was no record of it. Summer was three weeks away and those bastards had even taken the sun away… They were the reason why it had been a few weeks since he, Mia or the kids had last walked around muggle or wizarding London. And knowing that, he simply hated how those… faceless Dementor bastards could freak him out and make him feel like a bloody coward.

"Well, it's not getting much better than this, Sirius," Mia replied, her voice tense as she spoke. "It's actually warm enough to walk outside with your arms bare, which is more than we can say about the past few weeks."

"I know, love, it's just…"

She rested her hand on top of his on the table. It was time for her to be the one to comfort him. "Sirius," she started, "I know you have reasons to hate and to fear the Dementors more than anyone else I know." It gave her the chills to think of how he'd been so close to be kissed by one if Harry hadn't helped him escape back when Sirius was on the run. "I really understand. But we can't stop going outside in London just because some of them have been sighted lately. It's not healthy and, honestly, it feels sort of like you're letting them win by avoiding them."

It annoyed him that she was right in every word and it annoyed him even more than he hadn't figured out her conclusion on his own…

"Besides," she continued, "you know Kingsley has aurors stationed all over Diagon Alley for protection. I'm pretty sure if they managed to pass their auror training, they must be decent enough making a Patronus. As both of us are, by the way. So, knock it off because I'm going to floo Molly now and ask her to keep the kids and intend to be out of this house in a half hour."

He raised an eyebrow. "Wait, I thought you'd said dinner. It's four in the afternoon – a bit early, isn't it?"

"I did say dinner," she confirmed casually. "But I was counting on you being a gentleman, Mr. Black, and entertain your wife around Diagon Alley for a little bit. Plus, I haven't seen Elizabeth in weeks, so she'd meeting us there at half past five. We need to catch up, don't we?"

"Oh, so I have to give up my lazy afternoon in order to go to Diagon Alley and follow you and Elizabeth around while you catch up?" Sirius asked in a sceptical tone. "I'll take a wild guess and say you'd drag me there if you had to, wouldn't you?"

Mia smiled at him, absently helping Alex climb up to her lap as he turned his attention back to his parents. "Sure – I've already sent the owl back saying we're going and everything. Don't act likr it will be a bummer for you. Doesn't Remus work on Saturdays? You can hang out with him while Elizabeth and I spend time together. I doubt you're willing to let such a good opportunity to make a few sexual jokes about him and Tonks slide by so easily."

That last part made him chuckle in amusement. "It wouldn't be like me to ignore that, would it?" he agreed. And now that he thought of it, it did seem interesting… Now that Remus had already gotten married to Tonks, he kind of missed tormenting him for that purpose… All that was left were the you're-shagging-my-cousin jokes. "Alright, I suppose I can live with that arrangement – as long as I receive the proper payment for such later, Mrs. Black," he added suggestively.

"I'll be sure to bake you a pie later, then," she joked, reaching to place a kiss on his cheek and then another one on her little son's, making him giggle and call her 'Mama'.

"Not the kind of payment I was referring to," Sirius pointed out, forcing a frown.

She rolled her eyes. "I'll take that under consideration, depending on the quality of your company this afternoon. Now lighten up. You'll see this will only improve the day – a lazy afternoon wouldn't be half as fun."

Yet, unknowingly to them, no matter what they did in their afternoon, that day would always be remembered by the dark events that would take place later that night.

"I hate this, I hate this, I hate this," Izzy Black said as she closed her Muggle studies book with a little too much force as she and Ginny studied together in the Gryffindor common room. Although neither was terribly keen to do so, they had no choice with yet another OWL coming up just a couple of days away.

Ginny figured she might as well use that time before Harry came back from his detention with Snape, whose reason was too stupid for her to remember, followed by a meeting with Dumbledore to study as Hermione had been lecturing her about never taking a break to focus on her studies. She had to remind herself that Hermione was at the library with Ron in order to keep the lecture from playing in her head again. "You hate Muggle Studies?" she asked her best friend, unsure after she heard her statement.

"No, I actually like Muggle Studies. What I hate is that we have to know some stupid Muggle economics theories! What sense does it make that I have to know about Muggle economics when I don't even know, or care for that matter, about Wizarding ones? And you want to know what I hate even more than that? OWLs. They're stupid."

"Did you know that usually when you're frustrated about something you tend to start insulting it?" Ginny observed out loud as she closed her book too, causing Izzy to give her a far from amused look in return. "Anyway," she continued, "you should probably know that the twins share your pain and your beliefs. Well, shared, actually, back when they were taking their OWLs."

"I didn't know they had taken Muggle studies," Izzy stated.

"Oh, they did, not that they are as interested in the subject as Dad. Let's say their criteria to pick their optional subjects wasn't based on how interesting they sounded," Ginny explained. "They picked Care for Magical Creatures because they figured they could see some wicked creatures that might come handy for their business in the future in there and Muggle Studies because Fred had a… let's call it crush on Professor Burbage."

Izzy snorted at the simple thought. "Really? Professor Burbage? She's old enough to be you guys' mom."

"I know," she said, reminiscent. "But he thought she had the nicest pair of legs he'd ever seen in his thirteen-year-long life and other equally interesting pairs, if you know what I mean. I don't even know how he knew if these looked good or not since her teacher robes generally cover plenty… Anyway, seeing as he wanted to keep admiring her… attributes, he signed up for the class and of course George followed."

"He didn't have a crush on Burbage too?"

Ginny shook her head. "They may be twins but they usually don't go for the exact same type of girl. See Fred for an example: he likes warrior-like girls. Exotic in a way, stubborn, bossy… pretty much the way they describe the amazons without the man-hating trait – just like Angelina and, well, Professor Burbage too. You see that look she gets when everyone's talking during her class – you can almost expect her to grab a bow and aim an arrow to someone's forehead so they'll shut up."

Izzy nodded. "I guess that does have a point. And what about George?" she asked, suddenly curious. "How different is his type?"

"Well, It's hard to describe – he hasn't dated much lately and, when he does, it rarely lasts long enough for me to even meet her – the biggest references I have are his Hogwarts-time girls and their cashier at the shop, Varity, that he went out with once last year. He goes for the smart, friendly type if you take Varity under consideration. Also brave and a bit daring too since here at Hogwarts he mostly went for Gryffindors. It's hard to say for sure… sometimes it's not that clear and only the person in question can define it. Like you, for example."

"Me?" she asked.

"Sure. Earlier this year you told me your ideal guy would be someone that could make you laugh by being himself. I suppose that defines a type for you. And you're also finding closer fits to it, if you take the," she cleared her throat and lowered her voice, "most recent events under consideration. Or should I be more specific and say the words 'Seamus' and 'Finnigan'? I still can't believe you snogged him. I know in normal circumstances he'd a pretty funny bloke but you know he has a thing for Lavender. I was under the impression you'd gotten pickier at blokes lately."

"It was just once at the party after you won the Quidditch House Cup. Can you blame us? We were festive."

"Yeah, and half of you were also tipsy on Butterbeer."

"He was just chatty-tipsy," she replied. "We only snogged for five minutes until you walked in on us and then we decided it just didn't feel right, so we talked instead. He was really sweet – even thanked me for my mom letting his grandparents keep the Wales house after what happened to his parents… But why am I even telling you this? I'm not the one who got detention for inappropriate behaviour with Harry under the bleachers right after the game!"

"Snape exaggerated it!" Ginny replied, blushing slightly at the memory. That had been some snogging with the whole adrenaline of the game pumping through their veins…

"Not that much, judging from your blush," Izzy pointed out casually, making her friend glare. "I don't suppose I need to hear a description of your type of bloke. Let me guess: brave, way too selfless, messy black hair, green eyes and a lightening bold-shaped scar on his forehead?"

The redhead chuckled. "Well, I found just the perfect fit, didn't I? And speaking of whom…" Ginny whispered as she saw her boyfriend stepping into the Common Room through the portrait hole, his face incredibly pale. She stood up immediately, as did Izzy. "Harry, what's wrong? You look awfully pale." He kept walking and, for a moment, she wondered if he'd gone deaf… and blind for that matter since she was staying only a few feet away from him and he wouldn't answer. "Harry!"

At her shout, he turned his face to her for a moment and nodded towards the spiral staircase leading up to his dorm, telling her to go up.

Ginny turned to Izzy, then. "Give us a moment," she said, receiving a short nod in return from her equally confused friend. When she turned to the spiral staircase, Harry's feet were already disappearing up the stairs and she quickly followed him, wondering what all the hurry could be about. Her gut told her it couldn't be good – it never was. Seemed like the trouble that happened every school year always converged to those last weeks right by the end of it, causing some sort of catastrophe or massive trouble to happen… She had a feeling it was almost inevitable that whatever had gotten Harry in such a hurry was the beginning of said catastrophe.

Harry was kneeling on the floor, his hands rummaging through his possessions in his trunk when Ginny entered the dorm. He looked up at her immediately. "Close the door," he told her.

Ginny nodded and did so, approaching her boyfriend's tense form, then. "Harry, what the hell is happening? Tell me anything! Is this about that meeting Dumbledore called after your detention?"

"Partially, yes," he told her, his eyes fixed in the trunk. "I haven't got much time. Dumbledore thinks I'm just getting my Invisibility Cloak."

"Well, get on with it, then," she urged him.

He stood up, then, apparently bringing the invisibility cloak from inside the trunk and placing it on his bed. "Dumbledore found a Horcrux and we're going to get it."

"Right now?" she asked.

He nodded. "Right now."

"Okay. Alright," she mumbled. "That's good, right? There will be one less Horcrux for you to worry about after tonight…"

"Yeah, but that's not all. Not even close," he told her. "When I was heading to Dumbledore's office, I ran into Trelawney being very literally kicked out of the Room of Requirement by someone who sounded to be celebrating in there. Wanna know who I think it was?"

Ginny sighed. "Malfoy."

"Malfoy," he confirmed, nodding. "Whatever he's spent doing all that time in the Room of Requirement, I'm pretty sure he succeeded at it… So you see what this means?"

"Dumbledore is not going to be here tonight," Ginny said, understanding.

"Malfoy's going to have another clear shot at whatever he's up to and I don't even want to start to imagine what it might be. The school will be unprotected."

Ginny shook her head immediately. "No, it won't. You may not be here but we are, Harry. Me, Izzy, Ron and Hermione… at least a few members from the DA too. We can keep an eye on him," she said confidently. "That slimy ferret will have plenty to worry about with us on him."

In any other occasion, Harry might have smiled from all the pride he felt for his girlfriend at that moment but, between the worry thickening the air around him and the feeling of ants crawling over his skin for being so close to destroying another Horcrux, a nod had to do the job. Suddenly, something occurred to him and Harry reached down for the trunk again, getting a hold of the folded piece of parchment that contained the Marauders Map and one of his socks before handing the former to Ginny. "That's the map. You'll probably need it more than me now. And one of you should also watch Snape." Harry chose not to tell her now what he'd found out about his so detested teacher at the moment – that he'd been the one to tell Voldemort of the prophecy. There was just no time and as much as he wanted to let that weight out of his chest, it would have to wait for later. "I don't trust him one bit. Dumbledore says he's put extra protection in the school, but if Snape's involved, he'll know what Dumbledore's protection is, and how to avoid it. He won't expect someone to be on the watch, though, will he?"

"Harry, stop worrying and leave that for us to handle," she told him. "You need to calm down before going with Dumbledore. Going after a Horcrux with your head full of worries about what may or may not be happening here in the school won't do you any good."

He sighed, looking at her. "You're right but… I just feel like this is all a setup for things to end up going on in a very bad way…" He shook his head to himself and looked down at the sock he'd fetched from inside his trunk before starting to tug at it until a little glass vial with golden liquid inside fell from it into his hand. "There, take this as well," he said, thrusting the vial into her hand.

"What is this for?" she asked, confused

"It's the Felix Felicis. There isn't enough of it for everyone, so one or two of you should take it and use it to steal more from Slughorn's stash. Share it with the people from our side as much as you can. It should keep you protected. I'd give you the invisibility cloak but I told Dumbledore I was…"

"No," Ginny said, before he could finish saying that as she thrusts the vial of potion back in his hands. "I don't want it. You take it. Who knows what you're going to be facing?"

"I'll be with Dumbledore, Ginny," he told her, trying to hand it back to her only to be refused. "Gin, please…"

"No. You said it yourself – I can steal some more from Slughorn."

"He always keeps his potion cupboard very well-locked. If you want to break into it, the Felix is your only chance, Ginny," he said, exasperated.

She pursed her lips. "Well, I'm not letting you out of here before you take at least one gulp of that potion. It's bad enough I have to stay back and let you go with Dumbledore to Merlin-knows-where do something Merlin-knows-how-dangerous! So take a swallow of it now before I pin you to your bed in a very unpleasant way and shove the whole vial, glass and everything, down your throat, Harry James Potter. Drink the bloody potion!"

Just as she placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes at him, Harry seriously wondered if his girlfriend was channelling her mother at the moment. Nevertheless the reason why he did take a sip of the potion a few seconds later wasn't because she intimidated him or anything (though if he was honest, he'd admit his girlfriend could be bloody scary when she wanted to), it was because he saw she needed him to do it, to know he was as safe as he could be, in order to worry about keeping herself safe too. Still, the sip he took was so small he doubted its effects would last for more than twenty minutes – after all, he wanted them to have enough for at least get their hands on more Felix Felicis. She didn't seem to notice how little of the potion he'd drunk when he handed it back to her. "There. Happy?"

She nodded. "Happy enough." And then, taking a sigh, Ginny took a couple of steps further, close enough to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him down slightly until their lips met in a kiss. It was exactly what both of them needed and Harry silently praised his girlfriend for so often knowing exactly what he needed. When they broke apart, she gave him a warning look. "No funny stuff, Potter. This was good-luck kiss, not a goodbye one."

He nodded. "I figured," he mumbled, just as a knock sounded on the door and it opened without waiting for an answer.

Izzy stood in the doorway, one eyebrow rising. "It's always snogging with you too, isn't it?" she asked in a dry tone. "Here I thought you'd fetched Ginny for something actually important in some we're-in-trouble sort of way."

"I did, actually," Harry replied, his tone free of humour as he pulled away from his girlfriend.

"What's wrong?" she asked, suddenly tense.

"No time to explain. Ginny will do it for me. I'd better go, Dumbledore's waiting," he told her, giving Ginny's hand a final tug before letting go of it and grabbing his invisibility cloak. On his way out, he stopped for a moment and reached for his pocket, removing the two-way mirror Sirius had given him and handed it to Izzy. "If things get sticky, call your dad and have him bring in the Order." Then, he sighed and gave a quick hug to the girl he saw as a sister ever since she'd been born. "Try not to do anything too stupid, Iz. I'm supposed to be looking after you." And then he was gone.

Izzy raised her eyebrows as she turned to Ginny. "Alright, what the hell is going on?"

Ginny sighed and sank down to a sitting position on Harry's bed. "Trouble, that's what's going on."

A/N: To be continued...

And so the end of sixth year madness starts. I hope you liked the chapter - it was a struggle writing it because I had so little time this week... Feedback is welcome! Review!