"How did you like your first week here?" Lily and Beth were sharing the bathroom mirror as they put on their make-up before breakfast. It was a drizzly, cool Saturday and Lily was taking Beth to see Hogsmeade later in the day.

Beth grinned at Lily's reflection. "It went well. I survived teaching all of my muggles studies classes and that's a real achievement."

Lily shot a quick glance at Beth before busying herself putting away her mascara. "I think Sirius is interested in you," she kept her voice casual wanting to downplay this for Beth. She'd never seen Sirius like this before.

Beth frowned. "Is he? He flirts sometimes but other times he acts like he doesn't care."

Lily hadn't been kidding when she had labeled Sirius as moody. Beth had quickly learned to watch for signs to see whether he had decided to behave hot or cold towards her. She understood he had concerns about being involved with her. She had some issues of her own.

Hot Sirius was flirtatious and funny, joking and laughing easily with her, more than a bit on the handsy side. Cold Sirius' face was impassive and he held himself distant, only speaking to her out of politeness (which by Sirius' standards was often just a grunt when she spoke to him). Beth didn't bother trying to coax cold Sirius out of his mood. There was a simmering look in his eyes that hinted that cold Sirius just might explode if his shell was cracked.

Of course, there were more than two Sirius personalities. He was a regular Sybil. There was also warm Sirius, easily persuaded to become hot. Sometimes Beth amused herself by seeing how long it took her to change him from warm to hot.

Then there was livid Sirius. On Friday in Arithmancy, Beth had been accidentally hexed by Steve when he was goofing around with his girlfriend Anne. Beth had been busily working on an assignment, sitting sandwiched between Sirius and James. When her fingers could no longer move the pencil (she could not write with a quill—that was pushing it just too far), she'd just stared at them stunned. It took her a minute to realize she couldn't move her arms either, or her torso or legs or pretty much any part of her body. It was terrifying and Beth's breathing became rapid as she struggled not to panic. Sirius noticed she had stopped writing and elbowed her. "Are you actually stuck on a problem for a change, Peterson?" When she didn't respond, he looked at her and immediately turned around in his seat, enraged. "Who the fuck hexed her?" He took out his wand and released Beth from the hex, but the following half-hour had been a textbook case in how not to handle anger. (For Steve, lesson 101 in survival: Don't piss off Sirius Black.) Steve had apologized to Beth so many times she felt guilty and finally assured him it was good that her first time hexed had been due to friendly fire.

Beth snapped back to the present when Lily spoke. "I think that's because he's not sure what to do about it. Sirius is used to fooling around with girls. He's not used to fancying them." Lily hoped this wouldn't scare Beth off. Sirius could be a prick but he was special to Lily.

"It's not because I'm a muggle?" Beth asked. She'd been worried about this ever since she'd noticed her attraction to Sirius.

Lily considered that carefully. "Not in a prejudiced way—like a muggle isn't good enough for him. But it might worry him that you're not going to be here long and there's a wizard war gaining traction."

Beth nodded grimly. It felt safe at Hogwarts but she'd sensed there was an ominousness that surrounded the future, especially to the seventh year students who would soon be finished here.

By late afternoon, Lily and Beth had been to every shop in Hogsmeade . "James is meeting us here in fifteen minutes at the Three Broomsticks," Lily said checking her watch. "We'll have a butterbeer together and then go back to Hogwarts. Unless you want to go back to any of the shops?"

Beth grinned and shook her head. "I've got my chocolate," she said holding up her bag of candy from Honeydukes "so I'm good."

They walked slowly down the street. It had been raining earlier but had the sky had cleared up and the air felt damp and clean. "Thanks for showing me around, Lily." Beth said. "This village is adorable. It's so different from the U.S. where many of our stores are in strip-malls."

Lily nodded. "It has a certain quaint ambiance, doesn't it?"

"I love it here," Beth took out her camera from her shoulder bag and snapped a shot of Lily walking.

"Still don't miss home?" Lily asked, her voice deceptively casual.

"No. I wrote to my mom and dad yesterday and told them how welcoming everyone here has been." Beth turned around to take a picture of the village street. "Oh, I just remembered one more place I want to see. Can you show me the Shrieking Shack?"

Lily started. "What?"

"Marlene told me it's haunted. I've never seen a haunted house before. I mean besides the dumb fake ones that companies rig up for Halloween and charge you to walk through." She shook her head ruefully. After living in Hogwarts, she'd never look at those poorly engineered haunted houses the same again.

"Um, it's kind of out of the way," Lily said hesitantly. "Can we go with James later? We might not make it back in time to meet him if we go now."

"Okay," Beth nodded. "Though I should warn you, I get spooked easily and it'll start getting dark soon. I might need to hang on to your arm for reassurance."

They headed to the Three Broomsticks and found a booth by the window. Many of the Hogwarts students had left to go back to the castle as the sun was low in the sky. By the time their butterbeers arrived, James had arrived with Sirius in tow.

"Sorry, Lil, Beth," James said as he slid into the booth next to Lily. "This prat followed me here."

Beth smiled at Sirius and was relieved when he smiled back warmly as he sat next to her. She gave Sirius five minutes to become hot. Beth passed her butterbeer to him. "Here. I'm full from too much chocolate today."

Lily passed her butterbeer to James but warned him, "I'm not as nice as Beth. We're sharing that."

"Fine by me," James took a long drink.

"Beth wants to see the Shrieking Shack," Lily announced. Beth could hear a warning in her tone. She looked up puzzled as James, Lily and Sirius exchanged weighted glances.

"That's a good idea," Sirius sounded totally normal and Beth decided she was imagining they were unsure about taking her there. "We probably should warn you, Beth, it's not as exciting as it sounds if it's a quiet night. The shrieks aren't heard every night."

"Good," Beth was relieved. "I have to see it just once, but you know how easily I scare. I'd rather see it when it's quiet."

"You have more to worry about from the Whomping Willow than the shack anyway," James told her.

"The what?" Beth asked.

"There's a huge willow tree near Hogwarts," Lily explained. "If you get too close, its branches will come down and swing at you. It could kill you."

"Why doesn't someone cut the tree down?" Beth looked at the other three in turn. "It sounds dangerous."

Sirius stared at James with his lips quirked. "That's a good question. James, why doesn't someone cut the Whomping Willow down?"

James looked perplexed. "No one has asked that before. That sounds totally logical." He scratched his head, avoiding Sirius and Lily's eyes.

"How would you get close enough to the tree to cut it down?" Lily asked practically.

"You guys can do magic. Surely there's a way to freeze the tree?" Beth asked.

"Maybe it's protected?" Lily hypothesized. "It's a magical tree. They may not want to kill it."

"They'd rather leave it to chance that someone could be killed by accident?" Beth was dismayed. "What if a first-year got too close to it?"

"All of the Hogwarts students have been taught to stay away," James tried to rationalize.

"Do you want to see Whomping Willow after we go to the Shrieking Shack?" Sirius asked Beth. He patted her arm. "I'll protect you from the killer tree."

Beth grinned as she checked her watch quickly. "Sure."

They left after finishing the butterbeers, which didn't take long since James and Lily were sharing one, and Sirius downed most of Beth's in a single gulp. The sun had set and the horizon was a beautiful mix of orange and pink. The temperature was dropping rapidly and Sirius draped his arm around Beth before she even shivered.

Sirius was right, the shack was anticlimactic and quiet. It certainly looked like it could be haunted, it was dilapidated and lonely on the outskirts of town. "It does look authentic," Beth cocked her head to the side and regarded the shack. She could imagine how it would feel haunted if screams were coming from it.

They walked on to Hogwarts, stopping to show Beth the Whomping Wilow. Beth looked at the tree skeptically. It looked like a normal stationary tree to her. Lily huddled in James' arms staring at the tree with foreboding.

"Don't move any closer," Sirius warned. He picked up a large rock and threw it at the tree. The rock hit the trunk and the tree twisted violently, its branches sweeping down trying to crush whatever had disturbed it. Beth leaped backwards in fright and Sirius wrapped his arms around her from behind protectively as she trembled. "Shit, that thing is vicious!" Beth cried.

"Yeah, you really have to be careful around it," Sirius' lips were close to her ear and Beth felt heat pooling in her stomach. The four of them watched the tree for several minutes until it gave up and stopped writhing, straightening up to look like a normal tree again. Sirius was still holding Beth and she leaned back against his chest, allowing herself to relax in his arms.

Later, as they entered the castle, Beth turned to Sirius with a slight frown. "The wizarding world certainly is dangerous."

Sirius looked at her oddly. "Yeah, it is."