A/N- Hey! I'm back! Here's yet another chapter. Give it a read.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Christmas break meant that the halls of the castle were sparsely populated. Most students preferred to spend time with their families. Strangely, Gryffindor's population didn't seem to have diminished much. Peter and Mary had gone home but James, Sirius, Remus, Lily, Dany, Dorcas and Marlene were all staying back.

Unfortunately, Dany didn't get much free time. She spent most of the day helping Sirius with Potions. While Sirius was obviously brilliant, he was exceptionally lazy when it came to things that annoyed him. And currently, Potions was annoying the fuck out of him.

"Okay, pay attention. You can't afford to go James Dean on this," said Dany, setting up the cauldron. Sirius raised an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes at him. "Muggle reference."

"If you fuck this up, we could either be covered in cement or have our robes catch fire," she continued, giving him sharp look.

"Fine, fine. Ruddy Potions making me sweat so much," he muttered, grumpily.

"No one asked you to wear a leather jacket indoors next to a large fire," she said with a snort.

"My leather jacket is iconic and beyond reproach," said Sirius, feigning indignance. Dany couldn't help but dissolve into giggles at the look on his face. He just flashed her a grin and quickly shrugged off his 'iconic' jacket. She wouldn't ever admit it to him but he did have a point. Sirius seemed to own any look he sported, and seeing as he had a particular liking for the bad boy biker look, it had quickly become synonymous with him. A lot of boys trying and failing to emulate him. There was something about how the leather jacket looked on him, hanging casually from his broad shoulders and contrasting magnificently with his aristocratic features.

"Am I supposed to stir it clockwise and counterclockwise as well?" he asked, shaking her out of her fashion-appreciative daze.

"Both. Honestly," she said, frowning at him. "I'm not your cheat sheet. I will not help you any more if you keep slacking off, expecting me to just fill in the parts you can't remember."

"Don't get your wand in a knot. I remember. I just wanted to confirm, is all."

Dany huffed and leaned against the wall, watching Sirius work on the potion. He was doing fine. Which was never really the problem. He just needed to care long enough to get through the exam.

She wasn't completely truthful before when she had said she would stop helping him. The truth was, that she really enjoyed her afternoons with him. He was so intelligent. Just talking about things with him gave her immense joy. Not to mention his sarcastic charm and ready wit. And it definitely did not hurt that he was gorgeous. Although her serial blushing had stopped, there were still times when she would be mesmerized by him. But then, that wasn't all there was. Dany felt like she could talk to him so easily. It had taken her years to talk freely with Lily and the others. But it was just so much simpler with Sirius. He was oddly intuitive and had understood exactly how to ease her into conversation, and once that obstacle had been overcome, it was just an endless flow of banter, ideas and discussions between them.

"Oi, stop daydreaming and hand me the syrup of hellebore," he said, nudging her knee with his finger.

"Its right next to you," frowned Dany.

"I know," he smirked. "Just wanted to know whether you were actually paying attention or not."

"Annoying me is a lot of fun, isn't it?" she asked, dryly.

"Loads."

"Prat."

Lily walked into the common room in search of Remus. She needed to go through his Transfiguration notes before starting on her essay for McGonagall. However, the sandy-haired teenager was nowhere to be seen. She frowned, slightly annoyed, her eyes landing on a messy haired boy with spectacles.

"Potter," she snapped. "Where's Remus?"

James looked stunned to have been addressed by her which was not initiated by some attention-seeking act of his. His hand automatically went to his hair and messed it up even more.

"Wotcher Evans," he said, quickly recovering. "Remus is ill," he emphasized with a meaningful look.

"Oh…" Lily realised that it had been a full moon two nights ago. Which meant that Remus was in the Hospital Wing. Drat. She couldn't be annoyed with him about that.

"Did you need something?" asked James, slightly hesitant.

"No. Actually… yes. Remus said he'd lend me his notes on the essay we have due after the break."

"I can help you out with that," he said, almost jumping with eagerness. "I mean, until Remus gets better."

Lily bit her lip. She really didn't want to be indebted to him. But then, since when did a few simple notes count as a huge debt? Sighing deeply, she nodded her head, trying not to roll her eyes at the look of utter joy on James' face.

"I'm definitely going to regret this," she muttered to herself.

Christmas morning saw the 6th year Gryffindor boys dorm flooded with a few too many people. The girls had settled there as everyone decided it would be nice to open presents together. Aside from James tripping over his feet at the sight of Lily in his dorm, everything seemed to be going quite smoothly.

Dany usually put a lot of thought into presents for her friends, and this year her friends had increased quite a bit. But the plus side was that she received more presents as well. Lily had given her a rather exciting looking muggle book. Dorcas had given her a new pair of gloves and a beautiful scarf, from both her and Mary. Marlene had gone out of her way and gifted her a lovely pair of earrings. Remus had gotten her a rather massive pile of Honeydukes' finest. Peter, surprisingly, had also gotten her something - an eagle feather quill. James had gotten her a signed Puddlemere United jersey ("I've got my sources") and Sirius had given her a new satchel.

They were all lounging about, eating chocolates and laughing at James try his utmost to maintain his cool around Lily. Marlene was stretched out on James' bed, flipping through a Quidditch magazine. Lily and Remus were trying to convince James that dressing up as McGonagall would definitely land him a year's worth of detention. Peter was busy explaining the working of a Sneakoscope to Dorcas, and Dany and Sirius were arguing about Puddlemere United.

"You are terribly easy to rile up," chuckled Sirius, reaching around Dany to grab a piece of chocolate.

"Prat," muttered Dany, darkly. No matter how many times they had this discussion, she would never fail to get worked up when Sirius taunted her about Puddlemere's recent form. "Oi! That's my chocolate!"

"I'm just trying to help. The rate at which you're going, our dorm will be carpeted in chocolate colored vomit before you can say 'Snivellus sucks!',"he said, grinning at her.

"You are incorrigible," she huffed, nudging his shoulder halfheartedly. "Thanks for the satchel, by the way."

"Oh right! I forgot to tell you. I've placed an Undetectable Extension Charm on it so you can load it with as much crap as you want. Merlin knows you lug around a ton of that."

"That's fantastic! Thanks for that, Sirius!" she said, brightly. She was a little surprised to get such a thoughtful gift from him. It looked like the blush was not going to be a tale of ages past.

In the meantime, James and Lily were actually getting along without any awkward propositions or angry hexes. A fact which Remus registered and signalled to Sirius and Dany to notice as well. They all had huge grins on their faces as they watched Potter and Evans get along like a house on fire.

Sirius was slightly nervous. He hardly ever got nervous. Not since he had been sorted into Gryffindor and had realised that there was a way to escape the clutches of his sadistic family. But now, waiting for Slughorn to begin his exam, made him feel like another telling off by his mother wouldn't be too bad at that point. He was also trying very hard to keep his temper at bay. Watching Slughorn waltz into the dungeons, almost bursting out of his robes and eating from his blasted case of glazed pineapples, made Sirius want to punch the smug expression off his face.

Fortunately, the questions were all pretty straightforward, including the Draught of Peace and antidotes to poisons. He had covered all of this during revision with Dany last night. She had sat with him till 2 in the morning, scolding him every time she jolted awake to hide her embarrassment at drifting off.

Finally, Slughorn asked him to stop writing (which he had stopped a while ago, having finished his paper very early) and went to inspect his potions. It was a nerve-wracking 30 minutes as the Head of Slytherin assessed his theory and practical exam.

"Well, Mr. Black," he said, holding out a parchment for him. "Here is your result."

Sirius took it from him and hastily opened it, his lips curling upwards at the elegant O at the top of the page.

"I'll see you next week."

Sirius walked out to see Dany sitting outside, tapping her foot nervously and trying to read the book that Lily had given her. Sensing him walking towards her, she looked up and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

He grinned at her and she set aside her book, tackling him in a hug. Sirius barked out a laugh and twirled her around, feeling extremely lighthearted for some reason. Sure, he wouldn't have to drop Potions and forget his dream of becoming an Auror. But there was something more to it. He ignored that thought and hugged her tightly.

She was quite tall, only needing to tilt her head slightly to look up at him. Which she was doing now. She had a brilliant smile on her face, the tiny dimple on her right cheek making her look even more happy. He hugged her tightly again and twirled her around a bit more, enjoying her hands wrapped around his neck.

With a strange euphoria coursing through him, Sirius dipped his head down and captured her lips with his. She responded to his kiss and tangled her fingers into his longish hair. As they continued, his hands slipped down to her waist and pulled her closer to him.

They pulled apart after a while, panting slightly and sporting identical delighted expressions. Only, Dany's smile fell after a few seconds, her brow creasing and her breath quickening. She moved away from him, a puzzled expression on her face which was soon overcome by one of horror.

Shaking her head violently, she turned away, picked up her book and hastened away towards the other end of the castle.

A bit short, but I wanted to end the chapter here. About Lily knowing about Remus, I figured she would have found out by 6th year. And it would be nice to have a story where Lily finding out wasn't a big event which needed to be told.

Also. I'm not sure what I'm doing with this story lol.

Anyway, please review xxx