A/N- So I liked how this chapter started but somewhere along the way, it got really fucked up :/ I revised it a couple of times but then decided to go with this as my final version. Lemme know what you guys think.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Potions class was something Dany enjoyed immensely. Not Slughorn's annoying nepotism or Snape's increasingly creepy behavior, but the whole process of brewing potions. Like with all other subjects taught at Hogwarts, Dany liked to be able to understand why she was doing what she was doing. Something which she had only started in fourth year. As a muggleborn, she had been extremely scared and felt inadequate very often, but as the years progressed, she realised that being born outside of a magical family really had no effect on your magical abilities. So around fourth year, following a rare bit of praise from Professor McGonagall, Dany had realised that there really wasn't anything to be afraid of. Everyone was learning and most people who looked utterly confident were just incredibly good at faking it. That gave her some much needed reassurance and she had begun reading books outside of the class textbooks and going up to the teachers (just the approachable ones, mind you) and asking them about things she didn't understand or questions about any discrepancies she found in how a particular bit of magic worked.

While she enjoyed most of her classes, barring History of Magic and Herbology (both of which she had thankfully dropped), she especially enjoyed Potions because not a lot of people were good at it. She always felt a small swell of pride inside her when she looked around the class and saw that she was one of the only few managing to brew the assigned potion accurately. And if Slughorn had been a fair marker, she would probably be at the top of the class, even ahead of Lily and Snape. She didn't mind it, though. She'd rather not have such high expectations placed on her.

Which was why the new Potions arrangement was proving to be somewhat of a challenge. There were an odd number of students in NEWTs Potions and therefore, she often got a chance to work alone. Not anymore though. It wasn't that Sirius was bad at potions. Quite the opposite actually - he was just automatically brilliant at whatever he did. No. It was more about how distracting he was. He kept signalling to James and then they would both guffaw, a few seconds after which one of the Slytherins would exclaim angrily.

But there was also the fact that he kept distracting her. He would poke her leg with his shoe or accidentally brushed his elbow against hers or sigh dramatically. In response, Dany would glare at him and he would just give her a dazzling smile.

"Sirius!" she hissed, after he had managed to poke her leg for the sixth time.

"Yes?"

"Stop doing that!"

"Doing what?"

"That! With your foot!"

His eyes were alight with mischief as he kept feigning ignorance. Dany glared at him and was about to throw some powdered valerian roots at him when Slughorn strolled over.

"Ah! Looks like there's some good work going on over here," he said beaming at Dany. His smile faded slightly as his eyes landed on Sirius. "Mr. Black, it's nice to see that you aren't causing havoc with Mr. Potter quite as often. However, I would like to see you in my office after class."

"What'd you do?" asked Dany in a singsong voice.

Sirius shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. "Nothing. At least, nothing I can remember."

Dany snorted and returned to the potion. After a few idle and extremely peaceful moments, she felt a familiar tapping on her leg. This time, she didn't bother to say anything and just threw the carefully separated pile of ingredients she had kept aside for just such an occasion.

"Oh dear, Mr. Black, do get yourself cleaned up," said Slughorn, not looking the least bit concerned as half the class erupted into giggles.

Dany pressed her lips together, trying not to join in. James had fallen off his seat, Remus was shaking his head amusedly and Lily gave her a dazzling grin. But the best part was Sirius - covered in boomslang skin, valerian roots and sopophorous beans - staring at her with a delighted look in his eyes.

James had cornered Dany after classes that day. Apparently, Sirius had 'let it slip' that she was really interested in Quidditch. Now she was sitting in the common room, arguing about why Ravenclaw were more dangerous than Slytherin.

"Now that's where you're wrong!" exclaimed James, moving his arms around wildly. Lily, although working on her Herbology essay, couldn't stop the snort escaping her. Remus looked at her in amusement but didn't say anything.

"Why exactly?"

"Come on, Dany! There is no way the snakes are less of a threat!"

"But you can't even give me a good reason for it. I mean, yes, the Slytherins are incomparably aggressive but Ravenclaw have great tactics. They've actually got a plan other than 'let's injure the opposition'," said Dany, rolling her eyes.

"Well that's just- I mean- umm…." James pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and messed up his hair, looking slightly annoyed.

"Face it, Prongs," said Remus, looking up from the book he had been reading."Dany actually has a point."

Peter, who had almost fallen asleep on the couch, guffawed loudly before managing to fall off altogether.

"Potter, admit that he's wrong? I don't think the universe would be able to handle it," said Lily, sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

James, however, didn't get a chance to reply as a very disgruntled Sirius, stumbled through the portrait hole. Literally stumbled. Because he was sporting a good number of large cuts and bruises across his entire face and body.

"Padfoot!" yelled James, rushing over to him. "Mate, what happened? I thought you went to see Slughorn?"

Sirius fell onto the couch, wincing slightly and wiped the trail of blood running from the corner of his mouth.

"Yep. Bastard told me I need to pass a revisionary exam if I have to continue with Potions during NEWTs."

"What? That's ridiculous! You got an E in your OWLs. Slughorn needs E and above," said Remus, frowning at the condition of his friend.

"Yes, well, mummy dearest decided that since she can't get to me directly, she'd take a more creative approach to fuck me over," muttered Sirius, darkly. "Long story short, I have an exam right after Christmas break, which I need to get an O in, otherwise, I can't continue."

"That's bollocks!" yelled James. "Let's go to Dumbledore right now! He'll sort it out."

"Oh, this request was signed by Dumbledore and McGonagall, along with that Sluggin' bastard!" said Sirius with a hollow laugh.

"That still doesn't explain why you look like Rocky Balboa," said Lily, eliciting many confused looks from the purebloods and others not familiar with muggle culture. "Muggle reference, sorry."

"Well, I bumped into a few snakes on the way out of Slughorn's office. And seeing as how I normally love them, I ended up getting into a duel."

"How many of them were there?" asked Dany, finally saying something.

"Five."

"Padfoot! That's mental!" exclaimed Remus.

"Didn't seem mental when I clocked Mulciber," said Sirius with a dark smirk.

"You need to go to the Hospital Wing," said Remus with a sigh.

"Yeah, I guess," said Sirius, looking extremely bitter and putout.

"Do you want me to carry you?" asked James, batting his eyelashes at Sirius, who struggled to pick up a cushion and throw it at him.

"Moony, be a sport, and smack Prongs for me."

"I'll do it!" volunteered Lily and then blushed scarlet as she realised the implications of her words.

"Oh, Evans. Kinky," said Sirius with a smirk.

"Yes I am," said Lily, reaching over and poking Sirius in the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"I thought you liked it rough," said Lily, narrowing her eyes at him. James cleared his throat uncomfortably and stepped in between Lily and Sirius.

"Okay, Padfoot, let's get you over to dearest Poppy."

Dany couldn't help but notice that Sirius was sulking. Not that it wasn't blatantly obvious and dancing right in front of her eyes. But still. It was kind of amusing to see him glaring at his bowl of cereal and poking it with a fork. Not the ideal piece of cutlery for that particular breakfast dish.

She gazed around the table, making sure that everyone else was still engrossed in their own conversations, and then lightly kicked Sirius' foot with her own. A look of surprise crossed his face as he looked up at her questioningly. Not knowing what to do next, she just grinned at him sheepishly. To her surprise, he didn't respond and went back to stabbing his breakfast moodily. Dany felt an odd pang of rejection as she continued to eat the dry piece of toast on her plate.

"'Ello 'ello!" James grinned at her and slung an arm around her shoulder as they walked towards Charms. Dany mirrored his grin, never able to resist the boyish charm of the Gryffindor captain. "How're you on this fine morning?"

"Spiffing," said Dany, gripping her book bag tightly. "Can't say the same about your best mate and my current Potions partner though."

"Padfoot?" James turned around to see if the dark haired Marauder was behind them. "Yeah, he's been a little pissed off since Slughorn pulled that stunt on him."

"It is rather unfair," she muttered more to herself. "But it shouldn't be a problem right? He's good at almost everything."

"Well, yeah… But the problem with my best mate and your current Potions partner is that he has a hard time concentrating. Most of his work is done last minute or just relying on what he remembers from reading things the first time."

"Really?" Dany looked at him in surprise.

"Oh yeah! He has a fantastic memory! But concentration, that's his problem. Especially when he gets angry."

"Ah…"

"Yeah, Padfoot and his temper- Oh hey Evans!" said James, slightly self conscious, his hand automatically moving into his hair to mess it up. Unfortunately, this was the same hand which had been slung across Dany's shoulder and so, this action managed to knock his elbow into her head, making her wince in annoyance.

"Smooth, Potter," muttered Lily, rolling her eyes, while Dany continued to glare at James who looked a bit sheepish.

Charms was uneventful as all the Marauders seemed to be subdued due to Sirius' bad mood. Lily also seemed a little preoccupied, so Dany busied herself looking around the class. Her eyes eventually drifted over to a particular grey eyed boy. He was frowning - something that he had apparently monopolised in the last few days. Despite that, she marveled at how one person could look so incredible. He definitely had the haughty, aristocratic look down pat - although, he could never mask the emotions in his eyes. No matter what the situation, Sirius' eyes always gave him away. She noticed that his hair had grown some more, reaching his shoulders in a perfectly tousled manner. Right then, he looked up and held eye contact with her. She gave him a small smile but he didn't respond, his eyes betraying the main emotion ruling his life.

That night, Dany just managed to make it back to Gryffindor Tower before curfew. She had been in the library and had lost track of time. By the time, she reached the common room, it was quite deserted, save for a familiar figure lounging on the sofa.

"Hey," she whispered.

Sirius merely nodded his head in agreement.

"How's your Slughorn prep going?" she asked, tentatively.

He glanced at her quickly, flashing her a look of anger before sighing in defeat.

"Lousy."

"How come?"

"I hate studying like this," he whined.

"Have you really tried, though?" asked Dany, skeptically.

"I've tried enough," he said, sitting up and turning to face her.

"Oh come on! This is ridiculous. You have about a month to prepare for this exam. That's plenty of time. Especially for someone like you," said Dany, slightly annoyed.

"Someone like me?" She missed the hint of a smirk on his features at her previous statement.

"Yes! You're bloody brilliant! And it's just ruddy annoying to see you bogged down by something as stupid as a potions exam!"

Realising that he hadn't replied to her, Dany turned around to find Sirius smirking at her.

"What?" she asked, uncertainly.

"Do you want to help me prepare for the exam?"

"Huh?"

"Come on. Don't you want to help your bloody brilliant Potions partner out of a sticky situation?" he asked, leaning closer to her. She could see the shadows dancing on his perfectly angled cheekbones, the common room fire, giving his usually cool eyes a fiery look.

"Is this some sort of joke?" she asked, not sure of what else to say.

"Why would it be a joke?"

Dany gulped softly, debating on her next words. She considered the situation, wondering why Sirius was asking her to help him. Maybe he thought she would be able to keep him focused. Because she usually didn't really do much other than stick to her books. Yes. That seemed like the most likely explanation.

"Alright."

"Brilliant. I'll see you in the library tomorrow," he said, winking at her.

"I'm still not sure I understand why you're helping him out," said Lily, looking at her friend.

"I told you. He wants to make sure he doesn't get distracted."

"Yes," said Lily, raising an eyebrow. "But why did you agree?"

"He was so upset about it. It was just so weird seeing him like that and not wreaking havoc," offered Dany with a shrug.

"You know what I think?"

"No?"

"I think you agreed to this because you don't want him to drop Potions. Especially since he's your partner," said Lily with a glint in her eyes. "It would be a real shame if you didn't get to spend four classes a week sitting next to him."

Dany opened her mouth in retaliation but no words came out. Lily grinned at her and received an elbowing in return.

So what do you think of this development? I'm a little ambivalent regarding it. Tell me your thoughts!

Please review! Cheers! xxx