Alright, my lovely little friends. I know, I know, we're a bit late. But not too much, only a day...or two. Anyways. As you all know, Deathly Hallows has come out, and we're just trying to correct our storyline to that. But still, we will be still be churning out the new stuff. All we ask is for a little patience. Thanks much, and enjoy the newest chapter of D.I.N. Kagumi

Bridget woke up to a dull pain in her torso and someone shouting her name.

"Will you shut the hell up already?" she muttered. "You're giving me a headache."

"Oh my God, you're awake!" a feminine voice (Kagumi, she belatedly realized) said in a worried voice. "I'm so sorry; I thought you would dodge it." Her voice took a slightly angry tone, "Why didn't you dodge it? I know perfectly well you saw it!" Blearily, she saw Kagumi standing over her, hands on hips, looking furious.

Bridget sat up and poked her stomach experimentally. She winced as pain shot across the entire area. "I wanted to make the goal. I think I'm only a bit bruised, though; that's what it feels like. Definitely no cracked or broken ribs, and that's what I'd be worried about." She grinned up at her friend. "That was so awesome." She suddenly sat up straighter and her eyes lit up. "I wanna do it again."

"You're crazy," Gumi deadpanned, managing to sound only slightly exasperated with her friend.

Bridget sighed with a roll of her eyes, and spoke in an almost bored voice, examining the rest of her body for injuries as she did so, "We've been over this already today, Gumi; of course I'm crazy. Always have been, and always will be. There really isn't anything you can do about that." She gave Kagumi an amused smile. "You never knew I was that competitive, did you?"

"No, I didn't! I thought you were sane about that sort of thing. I thought I got enough competition from my brothers, who can turn anything into a competition!"

"Hah, that's not competition; you obviously haven't been to any Griffins 'Ohana Gatherings." Bridget gave Kagumi a pointed look. "Now those can get downright scary—especially considering the fact that I'd like to feed most of them to the sharks (both literally and figuratively, I'm not picky) but can't." She sighed wistfully. "Alas, I am not allowed to and, as I don't wish to be yelled at after every G.O.G. event, I settle for beating them to a pulp in every single thing I can (figuratively, not literally… unless we're boxing or playing football or something of that sort).

Jet waved her hand dismissively. "Anyways, I am very competitive when I want to be. Once in a pick-up football game I cracked three ribs, and injured my right arm so badly I couldn't write for two weeks; got the touchdown, though. The play went off without a hitch… well, except for that bit where I got tackled by three Samoan guys. That kinda hurt." Kagumi gave her an I-am-not-amused look and Bridget deflated a bit. "Well, it did. And I won the—" At the darkening look on her friend's face Jet stopped speaking. "I think I'm going to stop talking now."

"Okay, kids, I think that's enough for now," an older voice said. The four teenagers looked up; Mr. Potter was standing over them, looking quite proud. "My wife will kill me if she found out either of you girls got badly injured."

"What about us?" James asked in an affronted tone. "I'm her son."

"Yeah, and she loves me more," added Sirius.

"Vivian's always wanted a daughter, and you two are always getting injured," the elder Potter said, dismissively shrugging his shoulders. He bent down to examine Bridget's extraordinary bruises ("Isn't the coloring ace? Right… sorry, Gumi, I'm shutting up.") "We have some bruise healing potion to put on that in the Manor, but, first, supper. Up we go." Both he and Sirius pulled her into a standing position.

As soon as she was upright, they let go, but the girl swayed; apparently, the fall had winded her a bit more than anyone thought. Kagumi made to move forward, but, before she could do anything, Sirius took Bridget's arm again, steadying her.

"Perhaps you should help her back to the Manor, Sirius," Mr. Potter said. "Kagumi, James, and I will put all this away and meet you up there." He gave the boy a slightly worried look. "Just don't let Viv know; she's spent the last few hours worrying over you four, and she'll have my head if she finds out; pretend you were being well-mannered or something."

"Will do, Mr. P," Sirius said. They began their trek back to the Potter's residence. "Sorry I missed the Bludger."

"Nah," Bridget dismissed easily, "I could've dodged it simple enough, but I was being stupid. I have a tendency to do that at times." She grinned at him, and he noticed just how expressive her brown eyes were. Before they had subdued his best friend into almost apologizing, and now they were full of—amusement? "At least I didn't give you a bloody nose again."

Bridget sighed. Two rather loud voices could be heard from the kitchen, one of which belonged to Kagumi.

"Mrs. Potter, I'm just trying to help!"

"Child, I don't need any help. I appreciate your offer, but really I can handle it!"

"Mrs. P, you took us in. The least I can do is cook dinner for you." Bridget sighed again, dropping her head into her hands. They'd been at this for at least half an hour. The half-hearted game of Rummy that James, Sirius and Bridget had begun had lost its charm; the cards were now arranging themselves absently into random shapes. Mr. Potter sat at one end of the table, hands in his hair, looking quite tired. Finally, he stood up and marched into the kitchen.

James and Sirius leaned over the table, half-expecting to see some Erumpents, or at least the two women holding butcher knives at one another. But no. They were severely disappointed to see that both Mrs. Potter and Kagumi were standing calmly near the fire, along with two or three frightened house elves. Vivian's face darkened considerably as she saw her husband strolling through the doorway, and Kagumi brightened just a bit.

"Honey, just let her cook dinner. It's our day off, and we should enjoy her gracious offer." Mr. Potter steered his wife out of the kitchen, and missed Kagumi's triumphant fist in the air. Jet, however, saw it, and discreetly hid a smile as Vivian and Warwick sat at either end of the table.

Kagumi gathered the two elves around her, keeping a wary eye on the frying pan filled with meat and vegetables. "Now, you two have helped me very much. And I thank you for that. But I need to know if you can do a couple of last things for me."

"Yes, Mistress Pheonix. We tries to help, Miss."

"I know, Kasy. Thank you. Now." Kagumi looked seriously at the two elves. "Can you two go to the market at Diagon Alley, and buy two pounds of strawberries?"

"You'll have to ask Mistress Potter, Miss. We can't be leaving the house without hers permission, Miss; Not even for yous, Miss." Kagumi sighed deeply, before handing the elves four gold Galleons from the bag Ram, her 'brother,' had given her. Taking a deep breath, she exited from the kitchen and down the hall to the dining room. Vivian looked up as she entered, still wearing the apron over her robes.

"Mrs. Potter, I would like to send Melan and Kasy to Diagon Alley, to get some fruit for desert. May they leave to do so?" Vivian thought for a moment, and then nodded to the two elves. They disappeared with a sharp crack and Kagumi went back into the kitchen to pull the potatoes off the steam.

"Dammit!"

"Kagumi?" Jet called back lazily before anyone else had a chance to do something.

"I'm fine! I just burnt myself a bit."

She turned the page of the Defense book she was currently reading. "You sure?"

"I'm fine, Jet. Don't worry. You know me, I'm always getting burnt."

"I don't like the sound of that…" Mrs. Potter stood up and managed to get a couple of steps before Warwick tugged on her arm to make her sit down. Jet laughed quietly, still mainly focused on her book.

"Nah, it's okay, Mrs. P. Kagumi is always getting burned, but that's because she's not really careful." Bridget frowned thoughtfully, finally looking up from the fifth-year textbook. "I wonder why I never get hurt in the kitchen."

Vivian leveled Bridget with a stare. "That's not helping."

"Crud. I meant that she—" Bridget stopped speaking, realizing that she couldn't come up with anything that would really help. She sighed. "Just trust me, she's a good cook, and she knows what she's doing." This statement was followed, rather quickly, with a large crash from the kitchen, and another of Kagumi's patented, "Dammit!" yells.

Vivian turned to Bridget with a look that, on others, could have easily said, 'I told you so,' and Bridget turned around towards the kitchen door, almost upsetting her seat. "Gumi, you are not helping my case out here! Keep your voice down, dammit!"

Kagumi finished placing the last of the meal she had made onto its plate and turned to the nearest House Elf. "Melan, what was that Heat Reduction thing you did? I don't want the bowls to be too hot for them to touch." Melan waved her hands a bit and then the bowls were much less hot. They were just warm enough to retain the food's heat, but not hot enough that Kagumi couldn't carry them.

Kagumi gave each elf a platter, and set two bowls on each platter; she herself carried a platter with two bowls and several small plates with toasted bread and butter on it. Without missing a beat, she passed the elves a hidden thumbs up sign. Kagumi bowed before Vivian, before setting a bowl and small plate of bread in front of her. Moving on quickly, Kagumi did the same with Mr. Potter and checked to see if everyone had a drink.

The Potter parents had a light white wine, while Kagumi herself drank milk. James and Sirius had a Butterbeer each, and Jet sipped on an ice water. Kagumi excused herself before she began eating and went back to the kitchen. Melan and Kasy jumped and turned around in surprise.

"Thank you guys so much for helping me. You were great." Kagumi smiled widely as the elves bowed low to the ground. "Oh, none of that. Come on. Up you get."

"Thanks you, Miss, for thanksing us!"

"You deserved it. There should be some Colcannon left over if you want to eat some; I'm not really sure about Elf culture…This is my first encounter with House Elves."

"Then, goes, Miss, and wes will fend for ourselves!" There were two pairs of hands at her back as the elves pushed her out the door and told her to go eat her own dinner…Yet, they did it politely. Kagumi smiled as she sat back at the table, only to find that Sirius' bowl was empty, and he was helping James empty his own when James wasn't looking. Mr. Potter laughed behind his hands at James' obliviousness, and Mrs. Potter frowned slightly, but it was all in amusement.

Jet looked at Kagumi. "Dude, we need to have a little talk about spice use."

"We do not! This is a traditional Irish dish. Get over it."

"Yes, I know that, and I'm traditionally Irish, but I also got some Spanish mixed in there somewhere. I'm guessing that's where I got my taste buds from. And then there's the fact that I grew up in Hawaii and you can really get any type of food there, especially if it's Asian or spicy for some odd reason."

"Is it not spiced enoug - -Oh! Onions! Sorry." She looked apologetically at Jet. "I used onions…I forgot. Dude, I can go fix something else very quick. I mean, I know that you hate onions…"

Jet looked down at the spoon and glanced back at her friend before she shoved a spoonful of Colcannon (luckily minus the onions, Kagumi noticed) in her mouth. After having a slight problem with swallowing (also known as choking), she grinned at Gumi. "Nah, I don't hate them. I just… dislike them. Don't worry about it; believe me, if I hated onions I wouldn't be eating, and I would've probably starved by now, considering my dad's cooking style. I can be stubborn like that."

"Don't I know it…" Kagumi muttered as she began eating her own, rather smaller, portion of dinner. Bridget spared a moment to look offended and opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by—

"You don't like onions?" Sirius asked incredulously. Jet shook her head cautiously.

"Bad thing to say around him, Bridget. This one is so weird. He'll actually eat onions by themselves." James stressed this, as he thought it was absolutely revolting. Kagumi laughed.

"A man after my own heart. I used to eat onions with salad dressing as a child."

"Ew…" James and Jet spoke simultaneously before looking straight at each other and laughing. Sirius pulled out his wand (causing James, who was experienced in these situations to simultaneously pull out his wand and duck under the table).

"Sirius, no hexes at the table please," Mr. Potter (who was also quite experienced with similar situations) said wearily.

"I wasn't gonna hex them! I was gonna help Bridget," Sirius huffed. Mr. Potter rolled his eyes, but allowed Sirius to continue, as it would probably result in some sort of comedic relief.

"Accio Jet's Onions!" Several small onions flew out of the girl's bowl, and a moment later, Bridget followed.

She soared straight onto Sirius' lap a moment later, and his chair fell backwards, leaving Sirius flat on his back with his legs in the air and Bridget draped over him, his face a few inches away from her own.

Kagumi snorted milk up her nose, laughing as Jet turned bright red and picked herself up from the floor (it took a few moments longer than one would expect because of their awkward positions). Still slightly pink, Bridget helped Sirius brush the onions from his face while he shook out his Muggle shirt.

"I think you might need to work on your aim…" she said quietly.

"No, I think he got exactly what he wanted," James waggled his eyebrows suggestively, "A pretty girl on top."

Jet frowned. "I don't get it," she said simply, looking utterly confused before her eyes widened in understanding and her cheeks regained the bright red color she seemed so fond of lately. "Oh, nevermind, um, ew."

"I did not! Jeez, Prongs, I don't even thi…God, we're trying to eat here," Sirius said lamely, trying desperately to tame a blush that matched Jet's perfectly.

"I know th - - Hey!" James had gone to take a spoonful, but there was only a little left. "SIRIUS!" Sirius had to dodge the fork that James threw at his head and Kagumi's left ear narrowly avoided being pierced with a butter knife as she raised her head. Sirius was already trying to reach for another projectile.

After having had a moment to think about the problem, Jet had come up with a solution and it was this solution that stopped the apparently imminent eating utensil/food fight about to ensue and said, as innocent as could be, "You know, you probably just have to really focus on what you want… the command was possibly too ambivalent, what with my name in it and all. Isn't that what magic is? Fulfilling desire?"

Then she began to eat her de-onioned food, oblivious to everyone's curious looks. A short while later, when everyone's stomach was content (well, almost everyone's, James was still glaring daggers at Sirius for eating his food despite the fact that Jet had given him the rest of her half-eaten dish), Kagumi nipped back into the kitchen and brought out dessert.

James' complaints were forgotten as he gazed on the scrumptious looking-cakes piled on the tray. Sirius eyed the laden platter with hungry eyes and Kagumi thought that if she looked, she might be able to see a wagging tail. Mrs. Potter was speechless, though whether from shock or annoyance Kagumi couldn't tell; she severely hoped it was only shock. Jet was trying to talk to Sirius. And Mr. Potter looked very much like a schoolboy being told that he could go home early as they all dug into the dessert.

A few moments later…

"You know, Gumi, we have to have a talk about fruit—"

"Bridget…" Kagumi's voice carried a tone of warning that she could've borrowed from Minerva McGonagall, Sirius thought, as he and James both cringed instinctively.

"You're no fun; I was just messing with you."

"And here I thought you just wanted to end up on Sirius' lap again."

There was a short pause. "You should learn to sleep with your eyes open, Gumi, lest you wake up with no hair, blue skin, and pink clothes. It's been know to happen, especially when I'm involved."

"You did what?" Bridget asked Sirius incredulously.

"I turned the entire Slytherin team into owls," he said with a shrug and a grin, "Figured it might help them with their flying."

"And I'm guessing they didn't much like that, did they?" Jet asked riveted.

"No, though I can't imagine why not."

Jet and Sirius were sitting on the same sofa they had hid behind only the night before, a forgotten Wizard's Chess Set spread out before them, enthusiastically exchanging stories about both their recent and not-so-recent adventures. The forgotten chess pieces had begun their own reenactment of the second act of Shakespeare's Hamlet after Sirius' King-side bishop had tried to continue the game for the third time only to have Sirius mutter, "Not now, Queenie." The pawns fled from the queen's anger, and began to fight amongst themselves.

In front of the fireplace, James and his father were watching an old professional Quidditch game on some sort of miniature Quidditch pitch type contraption and analyzing it in a way that only enthusiasts (read: "obsessed people") could. Mrs. Potter was knitting something that looked like the beginning of a sweater… or a scarf… or a sock (she seemed to enjoy doing motherly things regardless of the results). Every once in a while she would look fondly at Bridget and Sirius, sigh and return to her knitting, smiling to herself.

Kagumi, however, was bored. She had already finished the Transfiguration textbook (A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration) James had threw at her (along with a rather dirty look) when she had first tried to drag Bridget away from Sirius' apparently riveting tales of mischief. But she wouldn't be diverted; Kagumi knew that she and Bridget had some very important things to discuss, and it would be nice if they could get to it before midnight; reading textbooks only used up so much brainpower, which left Kagumi to think about the things the two girls needed to discuss.

"Ah-hem." They ignored her (well, not so much ignored as didn't notice). "Jet?" They, again, didn't seem to notice her tactful interruption, but James did, and Gumi ignored his pointed look. "Bridget Ashlyne Kealo-whatever Griffins!"

Bridget noticed her this time, but reacted in a way no one expected. She let out a squeak and dove behind the couch, emerging a few seconds later with a sheepish smile. "Um, sorry about that." She glared at Kagumi. "I thought you were my aunt, you evil Wisconsin-dwelling psychopath."

"Why would you think I was your aunt?"

"Because you have the same accent, you lolo, and she always forgets my Hawaiian name after the first three syllables."

"You have relatives in Wisconsin?"

Bridget's eyes widened humorously, particularly because the couch hid everything below her oversized reading glasses to anyone but Sirius. "I have relatives everywhere." There were a few moments of silence before Kagumi started snickering. Bridget, having situated herself back in her previous seat, crossed her arms and began to pout, which did not help Kagumi at all. "Why are you laughing at me? Everyone is always laughing at me and half the time I haven't even done anything remarkably funny!"

"You looked like a five year old afraid of the monster in the closet," Kagumi explained kindly, although she still had on a wide smile.

"Have you met any of my relatives? That is, besides anyone I live with and my grandmother; they're all rather decent…though my Gran seems determined to marry me off as soon as possible."

Kagumi looked thoughtful for a second before responding, "Well, there was Kawe—oh."

"Exactly," Jet said sternly. "For the love of God, they're all like that, just with varying levels of commitment and stupidity."

"Sorry, Jet," she apologized.

Bridget took one look at her friend's apologetic face before deflating. "Oh, fine, whatever. Now, what did you want that you had to startle me so badly?"

"We have to talk about our current situation, and we have a bit of reading to finish." Bridget continued to give her a slightly confused look. "You know, our new books that we stayed in line for hours for."

"Oh! Right." She straightened up and smiled brightly at the shocked Sirius and confused Potters. "We'll be going off to bed now. Have a bit of reading to catch up with."

"You waited hours for a book?" James asked, horrified.

"Yeah, I love reading." The two girls left the room, chatting merrily as they left.

"Oh, she's such a charming girl," Vivian Potter said, letting the knitting needles fall to her lap. "Don't you agree, Sirius?"

Sirius made a vague sound of agreement before turning back to his mutinous chess set. "Oi, you," he poked the white queen, who was reenacting Lady MacBeth's famous 'out damned spot' speech, "Stop acting like my crazy mum."

"I want to change things," Bridget said as soon as her friend sat down on her bed, both now comfortably attired in the pajamas they had arrived in the evening before, with her long hair piled into a messy bun. She had finished reading the first book and had spent the last ten minutes pacing, waiting for her friend to finish her shower.

Kagumi stopped in the middle of drying her long hair. "What?"

"I just read the first book—Harry's life sucks, Sirius' life sucks, Remus' life sucks, Lily and James are dead. I want to change it." Bridget looked at her friend, determination shown though her now-focused brown eyes, rather than her body language, which would seem to most to be rather relaxed.

"You read the first book?" Gumi asked, ignoring how Bridget's shoulders dropped and she rolled her eyes. "How long was I gone? Three hours?" This was, of course, an exaggeration as both girls were speed readers.

"Fifty minutes, you were taking your time." Kagumi's eyebrows went up questioningly and Bridget waved her hand, easily dismissing her unspoken inquiry. "I read fast and I've read the dang book so many times I was practically skimming the entire thing." Her eyes focused on her friend once again. "Now sit down, we have to talk. You're not only beating around the bush; you've managed to avoid it entirely."

Gumi sat with a heavy sigh, and Bridget decided it was time to talk again, mainly because she'd been going over her reasoning in her head repeatedly since she finished the book ten minutes previously. "Now, we know what will happen; not the specifics with them, but enough to know that it's not gonna be anywhere near pleasant. And, because we know all of that, we can do something to change it. We don't have to fix everything, but small, little things can do wonders. We can make things better for them. Peter, Snape, and Regulus don't have to be Death Eaters; Harry doesn't have to live without his parents; Lily and James don't have to die; Sirius doesn't have to go to Azkaban for a crime he didn't commit; Remus doesn't have to be alone."

"That's a low blow, Bridget," Kagumi whispered, wincing as though in pain.

Bridget continued as though she had not heard. "It can all be different."

Bridget was using her body to talk more than she normally did, her hands were gesturing with every word, and her face was lit up with passion, her eyes sharp and focused. Kagumi really didn't want to tell her that they couldn't just change anything, at least not knowingly, not when she was this enthusiastic; especially since she herself wanted to do much more than that. Well, and there was the fact that she didn't want to make Jet angry.

Gumi had only seen her friend really upset once, and it wasn't something she wanted directed at her. She sank her face into her hands, mumbling words through her fingers; no matter how much she wanted to agree with Jet, she knew that someone had to take a rational stand. Finally she looked up, not bothering to shield her eyes from the emotions she was struggling against.

"Jet, we can't," she said simply.

Bridget frowned, seemingly confused and even a bit defensive, "What do you mean 'we can't'? Of course we can!"

"We can't change what's supposed to happen, Bridget," Gumi continued in a steady, soothing voice, one crafted to keep others calm (especially unpredictable, slightly irrational others). Unfortunately, Gumi didn't know that that particular voice had always rubbed Jet the wrong way. "It wouldn't be right. We have to let things happen like they're supposed to, like they do in the books."

"We—we can't let all that happen to them!" Bridget sputtered. "That'd be horrible. I liked them all when I first read the series, but I just can't sit by and watch as four best friends are torn apart by a war. I can't let people's lives be ruined like that when I know I can do something about it. I can't not help; not again." Her voice took on a pleading note, which only made Kagumi shake her head; she knew exactly how Jet felt, but someone had to be rational around here.

"We could make things worse. We could get them killed earlier, then there'd be no Harry to save the day, then Voldemort would win!"

"It doesn't matter. We could also make things better. We know how things happen and we have the ability to find out why they happened. We're both intelligent, we don't need grand gestures, small things can change the world. In Harry's world, Voldemort still could win, especially because we know this isn't just a book with a plot anymore. These are people's lives, Gumi. And these are people we both care about!" Jet looked down at the soft bedspread, completely missing the look of hurt in Kagumi's eyes.

"Messing with time is dangerous, Jet, and you know it. We can't knowingly go around messing with people; it's not right!"

Brow furrowed in thought, Bridget frowned. "Doing anything is dangerous. We're in the middle of a war, if you hadn't figured it out yet, and we've managed to befriend some of the influential and central people in the war. The prophecy hasn't been made yet, Voldemort is still defeatable."

"There's too much risk."

"Not when there's so much hope." Bridget looked up defiantly.

The two girls were staring at each other intently, neither really willing to back down.

"I can't let them die," Bridget finally said, her voice thick with some unspoken emotion, one that hinted at something only the girl knew about, at least in this dimension. Kagumi shook her head one last time, before clutching her hand into a tight fist and turning away from her friend, not wanting her to see the tears she spilled.

Kagumi sighed before saying thickly, "You don't have a choice." The lie burned deep in her throat long after the words had faded.

"What—what are they doing?" Cordan sputtered as he looked down into one of the Viewing Glasses, used to look upon various worlds. He turned incredulously to his best friend. "Did you see what they just agreed to do? Agreed to not do?"

"I believe they've single-handedly ruined our plan," Ram replied in an amused voice. "This doesn't bode well for us."

"They're not supposed to do that!"

"Of course not, but people always do unexpected things—it's human nature."

Cor spun around, flinging open the door to the broom closet he had declared theirs (not that anyone else really wanted it). "I have to go speak with them."

Before he could get far, however, Raminus grabbed the back of his robes and pulled him back into the room—er, closet. "Not just yet, Cor, let's see how they do on their own for a bit. If they haven't changed their minds, I'll see if I can get through to them. Besides, we have to speak with a dear friend of ours. You do remember our arrangement to see the Headmaster tonight?" Ram raised an elegant brow, knowing full well that his friend did remember.

Cor sighed in resignation. "Yes, yes, of course. Let's go."

"We have to go!" Bridget said suddenly, shooting up suddenly.

Gumi blinked at her, half-asleep. "Huh?"

The two girls had fallen asleep discussing their full backstories: how they'd met, why they were in England, why their families couldn't retrieve them, anything they could think of. It had been exhausting work (especially because Jet had been almost unnaturally somber and focused, which freaked Kagumi out more than she would admit), but Bridget had abruptly remembered something right before she had let herself fall into a deep slumber.

"I left my notebook on the couch thingy," she said anxiously, eyes wide with fear. "Well, behind it, possibly underneath it, but we have to get it before someone else does."

"Why? It's just a notebook." Kagumi yawned widely, stretching her arms.

"All of my notebooks have HP scribblings in them. That was usually the first thing I wrote them in; it's also why I sucked at updating on schedule."

Gumi was wide awake, too, now. "Right, we have to go now."

After creeping through the large Potter House, they had safely rescued the book and were on their way back to their room when they met an unexpected obstacle; well, two unexpected obstacles.

"Oomph!"

Bridget gulped before opening her eyes slowly. Crud, she was, once again, right on top of Sirius Black. This was becoming a habit for her.

"We really should stop meeting like this," he said softly, gray eyes twinkling.

"Sorry," Bridget muttered back, her face having turned a bright red color again. She scrambled off him and stood up. Once in a standing position, she felt much, much more comfortable.

"I like that shirt," James said, grinning at Bridget.

She crossed her arms over her chest, hoping that would alert him to exactly where he was staring. "You would."

"What're you two doing up so late?" Sirius asked. Kagumi noticed that both were fully dressed in Muggle clothes.

"We could ask the same of you," she replied the same time Bridget said, "Getting my book."

"That couldn't wait 'til morning?"

"Nope," Bridget replied with a smile, "I'm weird like that about my writings—hate leaving them out like that and I'm about as forgetful as a person can get. Gumi accompanied me to make sure I didn't get lost, which I do in my own house, sadly enough."

"What're you two doing up?" Kagumi inquired, looking openly at their attire.

"We're going to visit a friend," James said.

Bridget gave him a confused look. "At one in the morning?"

Sirius shrugged and gave the two girls one of his most charming grins. "He's an early riser."

"'He wouldn't be Remus, would he?" Kagumi asked slyly.

The boys gave Gumi suspicious looks. "Why would you say that?"

She shrugged. "Eh, he just seems the type. Well, tell him we said hi and that if he can drag his sickly-looking arse out of bed, I'll have breakfast waiting for him. Let's get going, Jet." She tugged on Jet's arm, and smirked at the boys over her shoulder. They watched as the faint traces of moonlight from the far-away windows turned her green eyes into cat-like slivers of mischief.

Kagumi pulled the now befuddled Bridget away from their newest friends. "Wait," Jet said, not bothering to lower her voice much, "I don't get what's going on." Kagumi whispered something to her and paused a moment, as if waiting for Bridget to digest the news, which, apparently, she did rather quickly. "Oh… I get it now." She grinned at James and Sirius. "Have a nice visit, boys; we'll cover for you if you go a bit late." And thus, the two Americans walked off, leaving the boys even more confused than they already were. Sirius leaned in towards James.

"Do you think they know?"

"Know what?" James turned towards Sirius, confused.

"About Rem, you ponce!" Sirius knocked James in the head once; James shook it off easily and resisted the urge to transform and wrestle his best friend to the ground. Instead, he waved nonchalantly, although his nose had detected far too much self-satisfaction in the girls' scents to be entirely happy; he instead pushed the heightened sensory information to the back of his mind, feeling eager at the opportunity to romp with his friends.

"Nah. They literally just met him; it took us years to figure it out. Now come on, I want to get out of here before the Midnight Door Change."