Harmony Sea forced her thoughts on something other than Sirius Black while she jogged steadily around Hogwarts' lake for the fifth time.
The whole school had had their Hogsmeade trip earlier that day. But instead of getting tipsy like Harmony and the marauders, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black usually did, they decided against being hungover for the first day of Christmas break, which was the day after.
After getting back from a chilly day in Hogsmeade, the group of sixth-year Gryffindors ate another warm feast. They then split up and went their separate ways; Peter and Sirius headed for the kitchens not long after dinner while Remus and James went up to the dorm to do a bit of homework to lessen the load over Christmas break. Harmony climbed the stairs to her own dorm and chatted and laughed with her mates for a bit. They eventually got some homework done to stop Lily from pestering them repeatedly about 'failing classes' and 'detention for the rest of your days'.
Harmony didn't actually do anything. She just continued to design deadly fireworks and hum broken tunes to herself. She knew that she would just do all her homework the night before they went back to school. She wasn't nicknamed the 'Pyromaniac Procrastinator' for nothing after all. Well, it was mainly only Sirius who ever called her that.
Eventually, Harmony couldn't stand the silence only broken by the scratching of quills and turning of pages. She got up suddenly, making Becca jump and slam her Transfiguration book closed on her finger. Becca let out a few choicely swear words as Lily glared and Harmony grinned.
Harmony slipped into some old jogging clothes and shoved her feet in her trainers. "I'm going for a run. I'll be back in a bit!" She called while galloping down the stairs and almost falling a grand total of seven times.
Harmony was ripped out of her thoughts of the day's previous events by a rustle in the bushes outside. She stopped running and peered through the thick layers of branches and leaves of all kinds. Harmony couldn't see anything, so she bolted away as fast as she could.
Well whatever made that noise way just as fast as Harmony. "Psst!" a voice called and Harmony almost peed her pants on the spot, but kept sprinting through the snow all the same.
She scanned the tree line as she ran, but no one was there. Deciding she should head back to the castle like now, she ran back towards in the direction she came, heart pounding in her chest.
There's a man-eating Azkaban escapee hiding in the Forbidden Forest, was the only thought going through Harmony's mind as she made a beeline for the front doors.
The one problem with that plan was that the front doors that were open and had several figures stepping out into the moonlight. Suddenly, Harmony felt a hand skim her hip in an attempt the grab her but she just dodged it and kept running. Running fast.
"Oh, for the love of Merlin-" Harmony heard a deep voice cry from the bushes before she was attacked.
An arm was suddenly around Harmony's waist, picking her up and yanking her in the dark shadows of the forest while the person's other hand was clamped down over her mouth.
She tried to scream and had a little mental breakdown before the adrenalin kicked in and she was wiggling like mad in the person's grip and elbowing every part of them she could feel.
"Harmful, ow, shut up!" a familiar voice hissed in Harmony's ear. She got a whiff of a cologne that she had smelled tons of times before, and she realized the arm around her was the same arm that held her up as she slipped on piece of ice on the way to Hogsmeade earlier that day.
She also noticed that her attacker had no shirt on. And it was bloody winter. But still, he had no shirt on. Harmony whipped a hand to her mouth and ripped Sirius' hand away. She rounded on him, trying to ignore his bare chest.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Harmony snapped.
"Saving your arse! Now shut it before you become Death Eater dinner!" Sirius turned her around to see the front doors of the castle were open and a group of Slytherin Death Eaters were scurrying, already half-way across the Hogwarts lawn.
"Wha-" Harmony started before Sirius shushed her again. She tried to think of anything but the arm that encircled her waist or the hips pressed against her back. She would've said something about how he didn't have to hold her there, she wasn't going to run off, but truth be told she was actually enjoying the feeling of his arm around her.
Harmony noticed pretty early on in the friendship that the marauders were very hands-on, not afraid to give a hug or put an arm over her shoulders. So, she sort of got used to it. But after the almost-kiss-moment, Harmony had become way more aware whenever a certain black-haired grey-eyed gorgeous animagus and herself were having physical contact. She couldn't help it. They had been pretty much the same since the night they almost kissed. But it still made blood rush to Harmony's face just thinking about it.
She fought the blush off her face as Sirius and herself held their breath. Harmony watched the slight breeze make ripples across the lake and the clear sky of stars and the moon shine brightly above.
It would have been a perfectly peaceful moment if a bunch of Slytherins weren't hissing at each other and stumbling ungracefully over the rocks that lined the shore of the lake.
Finally they passed by the stretch of forest where Harmony and Sirius hid in the shadows. Harmony relaxed and turned to face Sirius, forcing herself not to take notice of Sirius' shirtlessness. "Thanks." she let a breath out.
Ever since Harmony maybe might have given that same group of Slytherins the finger and yelled at them in the Great Hall a couple days previously, she was avoiding them as much as she could. Harmony badly, badly wanted to go up and curse the lot of them, maybe throw some fireworks in their pumpkin juice, but Sirius made her promise she wouldn't do anything of the type. Completely un-Siriuslike. It was odd.
It had felt like months since she had almost-kissed Sirius and pissed off the Slytherins, but in reality it was only a couple days ago. Her mind was just excessively active, with everything going on - homework, Christmas, Sirius, the upcoming war, the Slytherins, and the who's-house-are-we-going-to-have-New-Years-at issue that had to be resolved in about six hours with herself and this year, the marauders.
Sirius removed his arm from Harmony's waist and she stepped away from him. "So. Stalking me, now?" Harmony grinned.
"You wish." he winked. "Nah, I just went for a run. Gotta keep in shape for the full moon." Sirius said, gesturing to the thick dark forest behind him which he was clearly just running around in while in in dog-form.
"Ah. When's the next one?" Harmony asked, tucking a dark brown curl behind her ear and crossing her arms.
"Two days." he said looking down at Harmony.
"Poor Remus. Lucky we had a Hogsmeade day to stock up on chocolate, huh?" Harmony laughed gently.
"Yeah. He eats chocolate like he breaths air before and after the full moon. It's hard to keep track of personal stashes because he can smell them. And then he eats them. While you're sleeping." Sirius grinned at the thought of his werewolf friend.
"I thought that to be more your style. I never pegged Remus as the sneaky type." Harmony grinned and looked down.
"He's a marauder for a reason!" Sirius grinned.
Harmony just laughed softly and walked back out onto the grass outside the forest. Sirius followed. Harmony stood looking up at the stars for a moment and then turned to wickedly grin at Sirius. "Wanna race?" She asked in a childish manner.
"Yeah!" Sirius readied himself, "One, two-HEY!" Sirius yelped.
Harmony was already bolting off in the direction of the double doors, her laughter echoing around the grounds, making cats skitter away and conversations stop for a fraction of a second inside the castle.
Sirius was laughing too as he kept his eyes trained on Harmony long hair whipping out behind her as she ran. Harmony was actually a really fast runner, Sirius noted as he just managed to catch up with her. Sirius reached out and grabbed Harmony, pulling her down and behind him as he ran ahead around the lake.
"You bum!" Harmony screeched, trying not to laugh as she got up and bolted to Sirius.
When she was in close proximity, she launched herself at Sirius, throwing her arms around his neck to slow him down.
"Hey-" Sirius started as he toppled into the icy cold lake with Harmony.
Luckily, Harmony landed in the shallow part so she only got half-wet. Sirius, however got the full blast and he came up choking on water and laughing hysterically, trying to keep himself up and shaking wet hair out of his face.
"Oh, Harms. I think you're going to pay for that." he sing-songed dangerously and stood up. Sirius sloshed to a shallower part of the water, droplets rolling down his bare chest as he gave Harmony his signature smirk that screamed mischief.
She almost swooned. Almost. Maybe she would have if Sirius didn't splash water all over her, little icy droplets attacking her face, chest and arms. "Sirius!"
Then Harmony realized that she should probably run before Sirius had a chance to throw her in the lake. She laughed wickedly and ran towards the entrance to Hogwarts. Sirius caught up with her gave her a big hug. If she wasn't soaked before, she was now. "Sirius!" she screamed, trying to get out of the freezing and soaking embrace. He just shook his head, spraying water all over her face. "You're being a piece of hippogriff shit!" she yelled after he finally let her go, grinning and inspecting his work.
"I'm bloody freezing!" she shivered, lake water flying everywhere.
"You think you're freezing?" he gestured to his bare chest.
"Yeah well that's your bloody fault for wearing no shirt while there's still snow on the bloody ground!"
"I didn't need a shirt! I had a nice warm dog-hair-coat, thank you very much." Sirius pointed out wisely.
Harmony rolled her eyes and ran the rest of the way to the big double doors. Sirius tried to catch up, but by the time he got to her, she was already yelling, "I beat you! What do you think of that, Pup?"
She was performing her victory dance where she wiggled her hips and had that triumph smirk on her face that was so purely Harmony that Sirius grinned. He laughed as he put an arm around her. He led Harmony back in the castle as they chatted about this and that, school, Christmas, nothing special in particular.
They walked through the dark castle, the only other noise other than the sixth-year's conversation was the meowing of the caretaker's cat and occasional dazed student wandering back to their dorm after snogging some other person in a broom cupboard, no doubt.
Sirius and Harmony arrived back at the common room, well after curfew, around eleven. The common room was deserted, except for the odd student. Everyone had pretty much gotten used to Sirius and Harmony's insane adventures/dares/competitions/ideas/pranks. People just stooped wondering what had happened to the pair after a while. The last stragglers in the common room were no different. Harmony and Sirius still must have been an odd sight, dripping wet with lake water, laughing and Sirius part-naked.
"Wanna come down to the kitchens with me?" Sirius asked, warming his hands in front of the glowing fireplace.
"Sure. I have to change, I'll be back in a minute." Harmony told him.
"Same here." they left up their respectable stairs and came down in different clothes a couple moments later.
"So. Kitchens?" Harmony asked, smiling slightly and looking up at Sirius from under her eyelashes.
"Yep. I could do with a butterbeer right now." Sirius took Harmony's hand and they left the now-deserted common room in Gryffindor tower.
"I think I'm going to take alcohol over caffeine tonight." Harmony said, a little pink in the face from her hand being intertwined with Sirius'.
His cheeks were a little more red than usual, too. "Two personal goals in one school year." he said, the first 'goal' meaning the time Harmony voluntarily got up early, arriving late for breakfast - like it hadn't happened before - but that time it was even more humiliating because everyone burst into applause after Liven informed the entire student and staff body that getting up relatively early was a new concept for Harmony. It was mostly payback for cursing them all out in the first attempt to awaken her.
"Shut up, you." Harmony smiled as she thought back on all the insane experiences she'd had so far this year.
Sirius grinned and tightened his hold on Harmony's hand. They fell in a comfortable silence as the pair made their way down to the kitchens, both of them not sure why they were holding hands but both of them also not doing anything about it.
After tickling the pear and hearing it's signature giggle, the house elves were surrounding Harmony and Sirius with joyous shouts.
"Mister Black and Miss Sea! What can Moby get for you?" the house elf named Moby asked eagerly, bowing until her long nose brushed the floor.
"I think just two butterbeers please." Harmony asked politely, turning to Sirius for confirmation.
He nodded as Moby cried, "Oh yes, Miss Sea and Mister Black! Right away!" and sure enough, a tray appeared over Moby's hands almost immediately from a couple of fellow house elves who were beaming.
"Thank you!" Harmony smiled at the little creatures and they bowed again.
Harmony and Sirius left to sit on the chairs by the fireplace in the kitchens, striking up a debate about Zonko's products.
A couple hors later, Harmony stretched and stood up, Sirius following her lead. "I guess we should probably get going, seeing as curfew has long since passed." Harmony yawned and glanced at the clock that hung in the dark kitchens. It was one am. The house elves had long since retired to their beds.
"Sure. Let's go." Sirius said, clearing their empty bottles of butterbeer away with the others.
Harmony and Sirius went through the dark castle, navigating their way to the common room all the way up in Gryffindor Tower. Finally, they clambered through the portrait hole. "Goodnight, Harmful." Sirius yawned while pulling Harmony in for a hug. A hug that lasted a couple of seconds more than a friendly hug would have.
Finally Sirius slipped his arms off Harmony's waist. "'Night, Sirius. I'll see you tomorrow." Harmony told him, letting a smile grace her lips.
Sirius smiled too and they both made their ways up the stairs to their respective dormitories. Harmony crawled into bed. Her friends had left a note on her pillow, so she picked it up before she laid down on her squishy pillow.
Harms,
We heard you and Sirius out on the grounds so we won't wait up for you. Ps- Lily says she won't help you with your homework over the break because you ditched it while you had a 'perfect opportunity to complete it'.
Harmony finished reading and grinned widely, thankful that she had such amazing mates. But just a Harmony was falling asleep, she shot up in bed. "Shit." she murmured because Harmony realized that she forgot her wand in the kitchens. Harmony sure as hell knew she wasn't getting up early to retrieve it tomorrow. So, she reluctantly pulled her tired limbs out of the comfort and warmth of her bed.
Walking down the stairs and out the portrait hole again, Harmony grumbled to herself about 'bloody wands', 'bloody memory', and even 'bloody big castles'. Sirius would have been proud at all the cursing she was doing.
Harmony cut through a shortcut behind a tapestry. When she stepped out, she heard hushed voices coming from the corridor over. Before she could retreat the way she came, someone had clamped a hand over Harmony's mouth and grabbed her around the middle. Her heart immediately started pounding, thoughts racing through her mind as she tried to get away from the arms.
The hands that grabbed her this time were pressing harder, harsher, rougher, against her body and there was no familiar scent lingering the air. Just the sour smell of some type of whiskey, which made Harmony's stomach churn.
"Look what I found, Avery." a deep, mocking voice called, and Harmony's heart was beating so wildly that it was painful she tried to kick whoever was holding her in the balls but missed.
Harmony was dragged around a corner and came face to face with Nott, Travers, Avery, and Rosier, the very gang of Slytherin Death Eaters that Harmony was trying to avoid.
"Oh, nice little catch, Mulciber." Avery grinned, a wickedly evil glint flashing in his eyes like lightning while Harmony struggled like mad against Mulciber's grip around her body.
"I would prefer if you didn't refer to me like an animal." Harmony spat and she was suddenly thrown down against the wall, the group of Slytherins huddled around her.
Snape wasn't present, she noticed as Harmony glared up at the lot, making her way shakily to her feet. They all still had a two feet and a hundred pounds on her. "What do you want?" Harmony said, her tone sharp and threatening, despite her shaking frame.
"Oh nothing much. I just figured now's the perfect time to sort out a little issue that we've encountered with you." Avery advanced and traced a finger down Harmony's cheek. She slapped it away.
"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Harmony asked through narrowed eyes. It was really dark in the corridor, she noticed, except for the window behind Nott's broad shoulders.
"Well, we already had a problem with you, little girlfriend of a pureblood, a girlfriend of a Black. Since we all know Sirius had a problem to begin with, that Gryffindor, we thought it would be great to wipe out a mudblood and hurt the little screw-up all in one!" Avery stated, grinning widely like he was a genius for thinking up this plan. The rest of the little group chuckled darkly.
"There is nothing wrong with Sirius, you bloody prick." Harmony snapped, trying to find a gap between hips or arms that she could slip through.
Avery flicked his wand and a deep gash appeared on Harmony's cheek. It started bleeding profusely. "It's rude to interrupt, you filthy mudblood." Avery hissed, eyes narrowed. "And back to my story," he continued as Harmony held a sleeve up to her cheek to stop the bleeding. "when you thought it was funny to yell at us and flip your finger up, I thought we should make a special point to have a heart to heart chat." he gestured around him, like that was what they were doing then.
Harmony wasn't fooled by Avery's kind manner. She saw the pure hatred and fury flashing in his eyes, like a thunderstorm. The thunderstorm part reminded Harmony of another pair of grey, thunderstormy eyes, but without any negative content swirling in the grey irises.
"I can scream. I can scream loud." Harmony tried. It was her last choice. She was wandless, alone in the dark corridor in the middle of the night and with a couple Death Eaters twice her size and weight. Not to mention it was five on one.
Harmony was a goner.
"That won't stop us. It always pleases me to hear the screams of useless mudbloods." Avery whispered, leaning in dangerously close to Harmony's face.
"Check for her wand." he leaned away from Harmony and his tone was sharp as he ordered the rest of the Slytherins around.
Almost immediately, Rosier and Travers advanced on Harmony. She stiffened and closed her eyes tightly, trying to block out the rough hands feeling around her body for her wand. "I don't have it." she spit, as a hand groped her behind painfully.
"I'll believe it when I see it." Travers growled in a deep voice near her ear.
"I left it in my dorm!" she yelled with force, shoving them back.
The hands were removed from her body and Harmony shuttered, hating the memory already. "I guess you would have used it now, or tried to, right? You're telling the truth. You're so brave." Avery taunted.
"Good observation. Why do you think the Sorting Hat put me in Gryffindor?" she hissed, cringing as she steadied herself against the wall. Harmony knew that she would have hand-sized bruises all over her.
"Let's cut to the chase, shall we? No more chit-chatting." Avery glanced around the circle, then finally back to Harmony. The Slytherins nodded eagerly.
Suddenly, Harmony launched herself at Avery, knocking the wand out of his hand. She tried to run for it, but a thick pair of arms were pulling her back, lifting her up and throwing her back against the wall where she hit her head painfully against the cold stone.
Harmony stood up again, and felt the slow trickle of blood down the back of her neck. The pain was blinding. But nothing compared to the pain she felt when Avery stood up suddenly, rage filling his eyes, shouting, 'Crucio!' with his wand pointing in her direction.
Fire filled her. Everything was on fire. Her blood was poison, burning through her veins, every thought splitting her head open more. She felt her back arch off the ground from where she fell, her blood curdling screams echoing all around the walls of the silent castle.
Harmony was dying, she knew. She knew that the she would never survive this. She couldn't.
She always wondered what it felt like to burn to death.
Never had she actually considered it an option. She always thought she would die of old age, or at the hands of Voldemort after fighting bravely.
Nothing, nothing, could block out the pain. Not the stars outside the window, not the thoughts if Harmony's family and friends, not the way Sirius smelled, his voice, his eyes. Nothing. Although she tried.
The unbearable and excruciating pain went on for minutes, hours, days, months, years. She didn't know how long she screamed and withered on the floor, her sanity slipping farther and farther away as she cut and bruised herself on the cold ground. Her body was thrashing around so violently that all her bones felt like they were breaking, over and over and over again. It was like nothing Harmony had ever felt before.
And suddenly, it stopped.
The pain stopped.
Harmony couldn't move for a few seconds. She heard laughter fill the corridor as a tears streamed steadily down her purple cheeks. She tilted her head, trying to pull herself over so she could at least see the stars while she was dying. More laughter. They thought she was trying to get away. No, Harmony knew it was too late for that. Her body was still on fire, but less than before. Much less than before and that just made Harmony want to cry harder in relief.
"Watch it, mudblood." someone snarled while she was picked up and put on her feet.
She felt like a rag doll. The thought almost made Harmony smile, for some reason. She suddenly regretted throwing all her play dolls around when she was younger. Harmony knew how it felt now.
Harmony leaned against the wall to hold herself up. Avery approached her. "Regret pissing us off now, don't you?"
"Not really." Harmony lied, eyes narrowed as she tried to keep her anger inside. She couldn't obviously, and there were wet tears on her cheeks as her knees shook so badly she was going to fall again. Her face scrunched up in pain, sure there were a couple bones broken somewhere.
Footsteps were pounding all over, all around them. Looks like the school had woken up. Harmony turned her head to look at the incoming students. They froze, various masks of horror on their faces when they saw the scene before them; a group of five Slytherins surrounding a girl who was half their size, barely keeping herself up, and was covered in her own blood, scrapes and fresh bruises.
The Slytherins were already gone, sprinting out the doors of the castle.
Dumbledore appeared through the crowd in his thin night gown. Another familiar face burst out of the crowd suddenly, too. Sirius pushed past Dumbledore and ran to Harmony. A smile graced her lips as she muttered crazily to herself, "Look, I'm being saved by a star."
And then she finally collapsed, blood soaking her clothes and hair. The last thing she saw was not the stars far, far away out the window, as she expected, but the eyes of her very own star, right down here, Sirius.
"Sirius, shut up! They said she'll make it!" an annoyed female voice said.
"You shut up, or you'll wake her!" another deeper voice whispered back.
Harmony slowly realized that these voices were beside her. They were getting louder as she regained consciousness. The voices stopped and she felt something shift on her mattress. Or someone.
Harmony opened her eyes, only to find that it was dark through the windows, the moon shining brightly beyond the window panes. She was in the hospital wing and it was at night, Harmony noticed.
Wait. The hospital wing?
What?
Then, all of the previous events flooded back into her mind in a wave of fear and pain and screaming.
"Harmony!" a voice cried and suddenly arms were around her.
Harmony flicked her eyes to the voice, seeing nothing but soft dirty-blond hair obscuring her vision. "I'm okay, Becca. Calm down." Harmony soothed as Becca cried. "I'm fine."
"You almost died, Harmony. You are not fine! You got attacked by the bloody Death Eaters! Oh Harmony!" Becca nearly screeched.
"I'm alive. Becca calm down. You're being hysterical." Harmony pulled back and looked in her best friend's eyes to get her point across.
Becca wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up. "I'm going to owl everyone else to let them know you woke up and you're okay-ish."
"Okay." Harmony said, as Becca hurried out of the hospital wing. Then she turned and saw Sirius studying her.
"What?" she asked, self-consciously and pulling at a thread of the thin hospital bed sheets.
"Don't ever do that to me again. I thought I lost you, Harmony Sea." Sirius said, scooting closer to Harmony, his eyes large. He leaned in and traced the cut across her cheek, then down to the one on her lip.
Sirius Black, Sirius Black. Even in this state he made Harmony blush.
"I'm sorry." Harmony mumbled, smiling slightly. She sat up, ignoring the stabbing pain in her body as she moved and opened her arms to Sirius.
Sirius immediately came even closer and slipped his arms around Harmony gently. He buried his face in her curly hair while she rested her head in the crook of his neck. It was intense, this hug.
"Can you...I know Dumbledore will have to question me...but can I tell you and you can tell him instead?" Harmony asked, her hazel eyes big as she pulled back and looked up at Sirius.
"Sure, Harmony." Sirius played with her fingers as she told the story about forgetting her wand and the unforgivable curse and finally how the Slytherins ran out when footsteps were heard coming.
Apparently, as Sirius told Harmony, the portraits had quickly realized what was going on and they ran through their paintings to get help. Sirius said he heard screaming while climbing into bed, and had run out to the common room to find that half the school was already up mostly due to the portraits tearing around and screeching their heads of about the whole commotion in the corridor. Harmony was really close to the common room, not making it very far until she encountered the Slytherins, so it made sense that she woke up the entire population of Gryffindor tower.
"It was scary." Sirius whispered. "You were all bloody and muttering about stars, and then you just collapsed."
"Yeah, it wasn't something I want to go through again." Harmony chuckled softly, smiling at Sirius' face. "So, what's wrong with me?"
"Before or after the matron worked her magic?" Sirius replied, but before she could answer he ploughed on chuckling without any traces of humour. "I don't remember all of what was wrong before, because there was a lot, but right now you have healing ribs, a healing concussion, a ton of bruises everywhere, and a whole slew of other things. But you're jacked on pain potion so you probably don't feel anything while it's all healing."
"Thanks for saving me, my knight in shining armour." Harmony joked lightly, causing Sirius to look up from Harmony's hands.
"I didn't save you. I just brought you here." Sirius mumbled, gesturing around the empty hospital wing.
Harmony studied Sirius' face. The moonlight was casting shadows over his skin, making his jaw and cheekbones stand out. His eyes were as stormy as ever, various shades of grey swirling in them. There was an emotion in the mix too, but Harmony couldn't quite place it.
"Why aren't you gone for the break? And what time is it? I'm assuming we missed the train." Harmony realized suddenly.
"Yeah. It left earlier today. Dumbledore, McGonagall and Slughorn had to force the others on the train." He said, referring to Harmony's dorm mates and the marauders. "They let Becca stay because she lives down the street from you. And me...well I gave them a piece of my mind and they let me stay." Sirius told Harmony sheepishly.
"I sincerely hope you didn't earn detention because of me." Harmony grinned. "I'm sorry you had to be delayed, though." Harmony blushed a little. "So...when are we going?"
"Going?" Sirius asked.
"I want to leave. I haven't been home in a while..." Harmony clarified.
"Ah, well I guess that will be up to-" Sirius started.
"Mister Black! No visitors. Especially while she's awake. I need to check on her!" The matron screeched, running at the bed with an armful of bottles and vials, the majority of them smoking.
"Good luck." Sirius smiled, kissed Harmony on the cheek, and left the hospital wing with Harmony still processing everything from the Death Eaters to the feel of his lips on her skin.
Two hours later, Harmony, Becca and Sirius stood at the fireplace in Professor McGonagall's office.
"I have informed your parents about everything, Harmony. They are expecting you soon. And Mister Black, the Potters are already aware of the situation, being part of the auror team searching for the culprits." McGonagall told the pair.
"Thank you, Professor." Harmony said graciously.
"I'll go first. Can you handle her, Sirius?" Becca asked, gesturing to the fireplace and scooping out a handful of Floo powder from the pot on the mantle.
"Yeah, go ahead."
Not soon after, Sirius had an arm around Harmony and another held his wand.
"Now Mister Black, Dumbledore has contacted the Ministry. They know about this underage apparation. You are not to apparate again until you have a licence. I trust you know how to do it, with the extra-curricular classes Hogwarts has hosted?" McGonagall inquired sternly.
"Yes, yes. James took my trunk so I don't have to carry it. Don't worry, Minny! Happy Christmas!" he grinned as McGonagall sent him a withering glare. Harmony laughed.
Suddenly the pair were twisting, turning, the air sucked out of them, eyes and ears pressing into their skulls as they traveled through darkness. As soon as it started, it stopped. Harmony stumbled, dropping her trunk dizzily.
"M'fine." She muttered, using Sirius to stable herself.
"Hey - how did you know where I lived?" Harmony questioned after the world stopped spinning and the sharp pains in her ribs eased off.
"Dumbledore." he told her simply.
Harmony looked over to her vintage-looking home surrounded by trees and land. The windows were glowing yellow and she could see a Christmas tree shining brightly through the front window pane.
"Thanks, Sirius. Happy Christmas." she hesitated, then pushed up on her tippy toes and kissed him on the cheek.
Sirius just wrapped an arm around Harmony's waist, another around her back. Harmony held his neck and leaned against his shoulder. It was peaceful, with the snow falling gently around them, and the distant tune of old Christmas music gracing their ears from one of the surrounding neighbour's houses.
"Happy Christmas Harmony. Be careful, okay?" Sirius pulled away and summoned the Knight Bus.
She watched him, a hip cocked and her hair falling into her eyes. "I'll see you at New Year's? James' house?" she called.
He smiled. "Yeah. You better be prepared. It's a marauders' New Year party."
"Oh, I will be."
The Knight Bus came just then, and an old wrinkly man stepped out. Sirius dashed back to Harmony, kissed her forehead, hopped on the Knight Bus, and was gone into the night leaving Harmony to hobble inside to the warm loving arms of her family.
A/N: I feel like I should be wishing you all a Happy Christmas?