Throughout much of October, Harry had been consumed by a depression-addled haze. Now, in November, it was the same, only instead of depression, it was something else, something much better.

Somehow, Sirius clarifying that Harry had a crush made it even more true. Ron was constantly asking Harry what was wrong with him, but now that Harry knew…

Harry and Hermione were already best friends, of course, so he didn't need to make excuses to walk with her or talk to her. They ate together like usual, and sat next to each other in class. Things were supposedly the same as they had been a couple weeks ago, but with Harry's realization of his crush, everything seemed different. Classes where he took notes were more interesting, at least.

HJP + HJG. Their initials even rhymed, he realized during one particularly boring History of Magic lesson! (Professor Binns wouldn't look up from his notes if a meteor hit the classroom.) It was meant to be! And their names sounded so nice together…Harry and Hermione Potter…On several occasions Harry had written out "Harry Granger" on his notes, until he realized that if he married Hermione, she would be a Potter, too.

The only difficult thing was keeping this love a secret. Hermione couldn't know, because Harry didn't think she liked him back. Harry was afraid that if he told Ron about it, Ron might spill the secret to the whole school by accident. And of course he couldn't let the Slytherins find out. He'd never live it down.

…

"Simple spells, simple attacks!" Sirius was lecturing, hands behind his back, pacing in front of the crowd of Gryffindors in front of him. "You'll be learning difficult spells from me, fellow Lions. But it's always better to be prepared, even if the chances of you running into a Dark wizard are quite slim."

"Hear, hear," everyone chorused.

"To begin with, we're going to be learning something that will definitely come in handy when we're using lesson one, resourcefulness," Sirius said, drawing his wand. "It's the Summoning Charm, or Accio. This spell can be used in two ways—one, simply saying the incantation and pointing at the thing you're Summoning, or saying the incantation and the name of the thing you want, like so. Accio pillow!"

One of the pillows from an armchair near the fire zoomed towards Sirius, and he caught it in one hand. Everyone cheered.

Sirius then split them into pairs. Harry, of course, partnered with Hermione (Ron got stuck with Neville). Hermione was amazing at the Summoning Charm. In under one minute, she had managed to summon Harry's glasses, her school bag, one of Ron's quills, and a couch pillow, just like Sirius had.

Harry was having a little bit of trouble with the Summoning Charm. He tried to Summon things, but they kept falling onto the ground midway. Hermione told Harry he needed to concentrate more. He had her wear his glasses so he could try to Summon them, but they definitely couldn't concentrate then, because they were laughing at the sight.

"Accio scarf!" said Hermione, pointing her wand at Harry's Gryffindor scarf. It flew off his neck and wrapped itself around hers. They laughed even harder.

"What's so funny?" asked Sirius, who had been roaming about his students, observing how well they could do the Charm.

"See? I'm Harry," said Hermione, adjusting the glasses.

"Accio!" said Harry, pointing his wand at them. They flew off Hermione's face, and smacked Harry in the nose. Then the glasses dropped to the floor.

"You have to concentrate more on the thing you're Summoning, that's all," Sirius told them, then turned to Neville and Ron, who were having a far worse time at it. Neither of them could Summon a single thing.

…

"So, Hermione…" Harry began. The trio was studying (well, Hermione was; Harry was watching Hermione, and Ron was looking out the window distractedly). "Are you going to be staying at Hogwarts for Christmas?"

"Yeah, I am," Hermione told him. "I was going to go home, but then I learned my parents are going to Hawaii, and I'd rather spend Christmas with you, Ron and Sirius than spend seventeen hours on an airplane, my biggest fear. Eleven hours to the West Coast, then another five and a half hours to Honolulu…no thanks."

"Twice that, actually, since it's round-trip," Harry reminded her.

"True," she said. "Now, what are you studying?"

"Transfiguration." Harry showed her his book. "I'm trying to turn my quill into a pencil."

"That might be difficult at first," Hermione told him. "Hmm…do you want me to try?"

"Sure," Harry replied, beaming. He always loved watching Hermione do magic. It only took two attempts for her to turn Harry's quill into a pencil. It was a mechanical one, too.

"Now turn it back," Hermione suggested.

"No, thanks," Harry told her. "I'm not as good as you."

That was probably true, but it wasn't the real reason Harry didn't want to change it back. He would keep this mechanical pencil forever.

…

December crept ever closer. Harry was a little irritated that it was so cold yet there was no snow. Adults, he knew, mostly hated snow; he remembered how Uncle Vernon would complain as he beat it off his car, or Aunt Petunia screeching hysterically when someone's winter boots, wet from snow, left the foyer. They both abhorred driving in the white stuff. But as an eleven-year-old, Harry was looking forward to finally having a snowball fight with his new friends…and, of course, his crush.

As far as Harry could tell, Hermione had no idea Harry fancied her. With a pang of empathy, he remembered how she hadn't been exactly the most popular girl in her Muggle school, and even at Hogwarts, a lot of the students saw her as a bossy know-it-all. Harry suspected that Ron still thought this. And then there were the Slytherins, many (most?) of whom hated her simply because she wasn't a pureblood like Ron or Sirius, or even a half-blood like Harry, who found himself wondering if his own mother had ever faced the same discrimination. He could never ask her, but there was someone he could ask.

"Sirius," said Harry after Care of Magical Creatures class, early in the month of December. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," said Sirius, who was packing away the fire lizards he had been showing them. "What is it?"

"You know how the Slytherins are all weird about who's got Wizarding blood and who hasn't?" Harry began.

"How could I forget?" said Sirius, rolling his eyes.

"Well, I was just wondering…" Harry shrugged. "I know my mother was Muggle-born. Did people ever, y'know…pick on her for that?"

"Yeah, they did," said Sirius darkly. "I went to school when Voldemort was first coming to power, you know, and that attitude, at least with Slytherin, was a very popular one to have, especially by the time your father and I were upperclassmen. People were being extremely rude to Muggle-borns like Lily. But she kept her head held high—she had a lot of self-respect, and she wasn't about to let any old stupid pureblood supremacist get under her skin. James defended her all the way, too. Treated her like a goddess, he did."

"So did a lot of people sign up to work with Voldemort?"

"Of course," said Sirius. "I don't know if all of them knew what they were actually signing up for…Exhibit A, my own brother, Regulus."

Harry paused, then voiced the next question that had popped into his mind.

"Sirius, do you…" Harry swallowed. "Do you ever…miss him at all? Do you wish you could've been closer?"

"I don't know," Sirius said quietly, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I suppose I can't say I don't, but at the same time I can't say I do…maybe I just miss the person he could have been."