Chapter 54

February came, and the DA was improving all the time now. Many students in it had lost loved ones to Voldemort, and ever since the people who'd tortured and killed their families had escaped, they'd doubled their efforts to learn from Harry. None were improving as rapidly as Neville though. It was almost impossible to believe he was the same person, and still that wasn't enough. He wanted to be as good as possible, ready to take on any death eater and win. So it shouldn't have been as surprising to Harry as it was when Neville asked for extra lessons one day.

"But Neville, I shouldn't really be teaching in the first place."

Neville was so determined though that Harry couldn't refuse him.

"All right. My dad and Sirius gave me a set of books about practical defense. There are some advanced spells in there that I was planning on teaching later this year. I'll see if I can give you a head start on them."

Harry kept the books in the Room of Requirement, but not the same room he asked for when the DA met. He asked the room to give him a place to keep things hidden. He wanted to be sure he could do the spells himself before he taught them. He'd never paid attention to the other things in the room, collected over many years and forgotten. But this time he noticed it when he went to gt his books. It was the diadem. Dumbledore had said horcruxes had been made from things belonging to the founders and the diadem was almost certainly a horcrux. He grabbed it and made an excuse to Neville before heading to Dumbledore's office.

When the ring had been destroyed, Sirius had asked that he be allowed to destroy the next horcrux they found. He wanted to feel this was something he and his brother accomplished together, and Dumbledore agreed. Now there were only two horcruxes left just a year after they'd found out the horcruxes existed. The Marauders still refused to accept that there were three. Sirius was feeling optimistic, and when he got back to Phoenix House Remus was in a good mood too.

Lawrence had come to Phoenix House for the full moon, only the second transformation of his life. After the full moon had risen, Moony had been leery of the newcomer, standing protectively between him and the others, especially Mila, for most of the night. But the next day he was glad Lawrence had come. Eager to get to work on anything and forget the transformation, Lawrence had been taken on a tour of the house and had taken interest in a telescope that needed to be fixed for use in astronomy class.

"Do you like astronomy?" Remus had asked.

"No, but I love working with muggle tools. I don't think it's a skill wizards learn well enough. Sometimes the results are even better than magic."

Remus couldn't argue with the results. The telescope worked perfectly once Lawrence had finished. Remus and Sirius had noticed how Lawrence had seemed to almost have new life while he was working, and it had given them an idea to help with the job situation. The law said werewolves could no longer legally work with other people, but there were ways to work alone. Repairing telescopes could be done alone. Some of the werewolves had shown a talent for woodworking in their free time. Making brooms could be done alone if they were sent off to shops to sell. Others were good at explaining spells. They could possibly write their own spellbooks. There were just enough loopholes in the law to find ways out of it by using their own talents.

All in all, things weren't going badly. After classes and the Order meeting were finished for the week, Sirius decided to enjoy a nice ride on his motorcycle. When he commented that he was going flying, Alex thought he meant on a broom and commented that there was no way she was trusting a piece of wood with twigs on the end to stay in the air, Sirius looked at her in shock.

"You mean you've never flown?"

"Nope. I know we can use magic, but I' still don't trust anything that takes me off the ground."

Sirius grinned, tool her by the arm, and led her outside.

"We're fixing that right now."

"Oh no. Not a chance you're getting me up on a broom."

"I wasn't talking about a broom, but I still say you don't know what you're missing." He led her to his bike.

"I told you I'm not flying. And I wouldn't trust that bike to stay in the air any more than- Sirius Orion Black you put me down!"

Sirius had picked her up and set her on his bike.

"Don't even think about it!"

Too late. Sirius was already on the bike ahead of her and starting it up, and insanely joyous look in his eyes. As the bike headed skyward, Alex closed her eyes, clung to Sirius tightly with one hand and started hitting his back with the other.

"If we live through this-"

"Believe me, we're perfectly safe. Only about forty feet up.

"Only forty feet?"

Sirius looked over his shoulder and sighed.

"If you open your eyes, I promise you'll love what you see."

Her face had been pressed against him, but she cautiously opened one eye, then the other as she turned her head to look. Ahead and above them were stars and too the sides were some clouds. She didn't dare look down.

"Wow! This isn't so bad." She actually smiled.

"And I'm not such a bad guy either, right? But then, if you thought I was you would never have been holding my head on your lap."

Her mouth dropped slightly.

"You were supposed to be asleep!"

"I was. The others weren't."

"Well don't go getting ideas. That was just- just-"

Sirius laughed.

"You're not very good at coming up with lies, are you?"

"Git!"

By the time they were back on the ground, things had definitely warmed between the two. Sirius was so overwhelmed by his progress with Alex he kissed her before he'd realized it.

"Did I say you could?" Alex asked as soon as they pulled apart.

"Sorry. I was carried away."

"I wasn't."

There was no way he could let a remark like that slide. So, he kissed her again. This time slowly. Alex looked at him, considering a moment.

"I don't like it."

"What? The kiss?"

"I mean the fact that I liked it."

That had Sirius nearly swinging her into his arms in happiness. He stopped himself though, and instead asked "What would you say if I told you I'm in love with you?"

She didn't say she loved him too. She didn't show surprise or happiness or anything else. She was thoughtful before answering.

"That would depend on whether or not you meant it."

"But I do mean it!"

"And how many others have you said that to?"

Sirius went a bit red as he answered.

"I know I have a reputation. But the others- they weren't you."

"I'm really special to you? Not just one more girl on your list?"

"Alex I don't just go telling girls I love them to get them to be with me. Yes, I've had my fun when I was younger and yes I have a deserved reputation as a Casanova, but when I tell someone I love them, I mean it."

There was a change in Alex's expression, but she wouldn't have been the Alex Sirius loved if she didn't toy with him a bit first.

"You never actually said you love me. You just asked what I'd say if you did."

"It means the same thing!" Then, looking at her, he said "Alex, I love you."

"In that case, I don't just love you."

What?

She put her arms around his neck and said "I love you very much."

It had been clear for some time from the way Umbridge was constantly observing both Divination and Care of Magical Creatures that Trelawny and Hagrid would not be teaching much longer. It was only a question of who would be fired first, and that question was answered when Harry and his friends saw Trelayny carrying, her trunks packed. Harry had never liked Trelawny much anyway, but he hated seeing anyone that upset. There was nothing he could do, but at least Dumbledore was able to keep Umbridge from forcing Trelawny out of Hogwarts. There was no denying Harry loved the look on Umbridge's face when she saw that Trelawny's replacement was Firenze the centaur, another "half breed."

Firenze turned out to be a good teacher even if Harry did still consider Divination to be rubbish. At any rate, his predictions seemed to be more likely to come true that Trelawny's, and he wasn't afraid to admit that some things were just impossible to know.

Harry would end up wishing he had an inner eye to predict things. If it weren't for Cedric, the DA would have ended in disaster. For a long time Cho's friend Marietta had been tense about being involved in something Umbridge would obviously not approve of. Luckily since Cedric was still going out with Cho he heard about it when she was going to turn them in and was able to warn Harry. It was a close call, but they were able to stop her and alter her memory. Everyone was a little surprised that Cedric had helped them against his girlfriend's best friend, but Cedric was a Hufflepuff after all, and that meant loyalty. He wasn't going to stand for anyone betraying their group, no matter who they wasn't happy to say the least, but she did stay in the DA and swore to keep quiet.

Later that night, the twins decided to give an impromptu demonstration of their latest invention, Weasleys' Wildfire Wiz Bangs. They were the best fireworks anyone had ever seen and Harry especially enjoyed the dragon made of green and gold sparks that swooped down as if to devour Umbridge when she came to investigate. Strangely none of the other teachers seemed able to get rid of the fireworks. Harry had the impression they weren't trying too hard.

Remus knew there was no reason why there should be smoke coming from the kitchen. There were so many protective spells on Phoenix House nobody unfriendly could have gotten in, and anybody else could easily produce a flame freezing charm if a fire had started some other way. Anybody except a student, but it was Saturday and there were no classes a fire would be started in and he doubted they'd start one on their own. The mystery of how it had started would have to wait to be solved. Right now he had to find the source of the smoke and hope the fire wouldn't be too big to deal with

AN: Thank you for all the reviews. I loved reading them all even if I haven't responded to them

With reguards to the contest, Lawrence Talbot is from the 1941 movie The Wolf Man. I'm going to try to stay as true as possible to his character from the movie. The mention of the telescope was inspired by that. And Gilles Garnier was the Werewolf of Dole and lived in the sixteenth century. I know I said the first person to answer correctly would get their name used, but with such an enthusiastic response I can't limit myself to just one. So DnDGeekGirl, Mystykyten, Blackrosewolf, mworth1019, Wolviesfan, USA-Jeanette, and 10thWeasley win. SiriuslyPadfooted-93, Shining Sunny, blaaah92, and Kaydeek gave half of the right answer, but if I can fit in the names you submit to be used, I will.

Also a special decication goes out this chapter to Jim Red Hawk. He sent me a wonderful PM that made my day and I promised this chapter would be dedicated to him. Hope you keep reading Jim :)

Just letting all my readers know, I've already sent PaddyandMoony the next chapter, so you won't have to wait long to see what's next.