A Parental Guide

By xXxFluffy-Pink-Socks

a.k.a Miss Willow

A/N: I'm so happy. I got SO many reviews for the last chapter! I love you all!

-x-

"Rosa! ROSA! GET UP!" I groaned in dismay and turned over in bed, squeezing my eyes further closed. I threw my pillow over my head and tried to drown out the wails of the baby that were filling our dormitory.

"Levicorpus!" Sirius shouted. I opened my eyes in confusion, just in time to see a flash of blue light skim past me. There was a gigantic lurch and I screamed, as I found myself dangling in mid-air by my right ankle. I pulled my bed covers off and let them drop to the floor. I some how managed to swivel round in mid-air and glare at Sirius over my shoulder. My glare quickly vanished when I saw how pissed off he looked.

He had the same dark circles under his eyes as I had and his usually ruffled hair was a complete tangled mess. He was staring at me through narrowed eyes, his wand still pointing at me. "Rosa... shut this god damn thing up before I kill you." He pointed over at Boblina a little too vigrously, causing his wand arm to jerk. I yelped as I dropped a foot or so toward the ground.

"No!" I complained angrily, trying in vain to pull my ankle down to the floor, "I spent all last night trying to get her to sleep! Tonight's your turn!"

"I was the one who spent all last night trying to get her to sleep, not you! You fell asleep at 9! I was up until 3am!" Sirius argued back, his grip on his wand tightening and his arm not budging.

"Yeah... well... well... I..." I spluttered.

"- will be helping me get Boblina to sleep..." Sirius told me in a dangerously quiet voice. His expression darkened, as he waited for me to show some sign of understanding. I sighed inaudibly and nodded my head.

"Good," Sirius said and, with a flick of his wand, I dropped to the floor, landing straight on my arse. There was definitely going to be a bruise there tomorrow. I didn't bother to get up. Sirius thrusted Boblina into my arms and then sat down on the floor next to me. The three of us sitting together seemed to have a positive effect on Boblina and I could have cried with joy when I realised that her cries were ebbing slowly away until the dormitory was silent again.

I grinned at Sirius and he smiled tiredly back. "You can get some sleep," I said to him, patting the doll awkwardly on the back.

"Nahh. Besides, she'll probably wake up again anyway." He replied. I shrugged indifferently and went back to looking down at Boblina with curiousity.

"Sorry for making you look after Boblina all the time," I muttered grudgingly.

"So you should be..." Sirius exclaimed, though he didn't look half as angry as he had before.

"In thanks... I will... let you... borrow... my charms homework," I struggled to say this sentence, as I had worked harder on the essay than I had on any other homework in the last month or so.

"Although I am touched-" I scoffed at this, "- I've already borrowed Larry's."

I brightened considerably at this information and tried to keep my cool, though I knew Sirius was watching me. "Larry... he was the one we saw in the hospital wing..." I said, acting as though he was a mere vague memory.

"Yes..." Sirius confirmed.

"What house is he in?" I asked casually.

"Ravenclaw." Sirius answered, equally as casually.

"Year?" I fired back.

"Ours." Sirius said, starting to narrow his eyes at me. I knew he was getting pissed off with me asking so many questions but I just couldn't help it! It was like I had lost control of my mouth and that if I didn't find out every last detail about Larry then I would burst into flames and shrivel up and die.

"Any siblings? Favourite food? Colour? Any allergies?" I gabbled without breath.

"What? How am I supposed to know?" Sirius replied in disbelief.

"Is he a good swimmer?"

"Are you?" Sirius asked challengingly.

"No, I don't swim, I drown!" I exclaimed impatiently, rolling my eyes as though it was the most obvious thing in the world and Sirius was an idiot not to have known about it. "That's not the point! Does he know Brendan? Is he gay? Are you sure he was smiling at me? Was he checking me out? Was he just staring at my chest?"

Sirius looked down and I folded my arms over my chest. "Don't stare at my chest!" I snapped, irritated.

"Then don't mention it!" Sirius retorted, though he was grinning.

"Does he like fizzing whizbees?" I said, edging closer to Sirius, eager to hear the answer.

"What?"

"Better than Chocolate Frogs?"

"Rosa, how many times... I don't know!" Sirius declared loudly, glaring at me, ""

"Nothing," I said quickly.

"Which is why you wanted to know whether Larry prefers Chocolate Frogs to Fizzing Whizzbees?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Errm... well... you see... this... err... I haven't got any friends at this school really... and I ... was... hoping he'd show me... around..." I lied lamely.

"We spend 24 hours a day together and you can't ask me to show you around?" Sirius said, smirking at me, "Just admit it. You want to shag Larry."

I glared at Sirius and gave him a frosty look, "Just because the only thing you want from a relationship is to bed the girl you're dating, doesn't mean I'm the same!"

"Well, dur! You're really quick on the uptake, Rosa!" Sirius laughed. I was glad that someone found our conversation funny, as I certainly didn't find it amusing.

"Eurgh. You are the male-equivalent to a... a... a..." I hesistated; there wasn't a name insulting enough to use on Sirius Black.

"To a-a-a-a?"

"A slut!" Sirius took one look of my expression of fury and burst out laughing.

"Oh, c'mon Willow, don't act all innocent! You're telling me you haven't just shagged someone for the pure, wild, animal instinct-"

"Sirius, I really don't want to know about your sex life," I said with disgust.

"So, you haven't had someone screaming your name in a broom closet-" Sirius asked loudly, still laughing.

"I... That's none of your business!" I declared, though I was blushing to the roots of my hair. I dropped Boblina into his lap and got to my feet.

"Well, I'm always here if you ever change your mind," Sirius said, ruffling his hair and giving me a jaunty smile.

"GOOD NIGHT, SIRIUS!" I shouted with a finalising tone, already climbing into my bed. Sirius grinned and got to his feet. He put boblina back in her cradle and pushed it over to the side of my bed.

"Erm, why are you doing that?"

"I already told you, tonight Boblina's your responsibility." Sirius repeated slowly.

"But she's your daughter too!" I told him angrily.

"You sound exactly like me when we were by the lake!" Sirius said, grinning. I rolled my eyes and turned over in bed, so my back was facing him. I waited until I heard him get into his own bed, before I allowed myself a grin.

-x-

Please R&R!