This chapter is partially edited; will be edited with other previous chapters later on.

It's finals' month so updates will be obscure for a few weeks, but I'll try my best to edit and update when I can. I wish whoever's in school their best on their exams.

And thank you for those who reviewed; I love reading reviews, especially long ones!

9

"Sirius!" She hugged her godfather who greeted her just as warmly. The man seemed to never age, so for him to show up with a mustache came as a shock to Harriet. He looked his age now.

"How's my favorite goddaughter?"

"I'm your only goddaughter, Sirius," Harriet laughed.

"True, doesn't change the fact that you're my favorite though," he patted her head, "how was school?"

"It was okay." Harriet peered at Sirius' grime covered outfit and said, "Let me guess, you had to shift into a dog to escape your secretary again."

"Not my secretary. Tony Stark," he corrected.

"Anthony Stark? How's he these days? I haven't met with him in a long time."

"I doubt he'll have a hard time remembering you. I remember you snuck a frog in his drink once. I recently made an investment in his company and he just couldn't let me go after I told him you're my goddaughter. But yes, I'm also playing hide and seek with my secretary."

"You promised you'd help me pick out a pair of heels for Remus' wedding. If the Tony Stark decides to help your secretary look for you, he'll find you in a heartbeat. I hear he has eyes and ears everywhere."

"I can go as a dog," Sirius insisted.

Harriet sighed, "fine."

Sirius chuckled, "come now. The only downside to that is that you can't talk to me or everyone will think you're weird, but the upside is I'm much cuter in my animagus form."

Sirius was a very large dog and it didn't take much for people to notice him. Almost every shop they visited happened to have a 'no dogs' policy and the two had to window shop for the duration of their walk.

"Harriet?"

A familiar voice made her heart skip a beat. The said girl turned around and saw Peter. She smiled at him. "Peter, what a surprise!"

Sirius looked between the two. His godfather senses were tingling, and what they were saying is that this boy was trouble. Peter may look like he was a goody-two-shoes, but he couldn't fool Sirius. All boys were trouble in his eyes.

"Yeah, I didn't expect to see you around." Peter nervously and habitually scratched his neck. She found that tendency of his absolutely adorable.

Harriet noticed just how tall Peter was and how there was something missing on his face. "Hey, is it just me or did you grow a foot taller since I last saw you? And where are your glasses? It's so weird seeing you without glasses."

Peter blushed when Harriet's hand barely touched his hair as she was measuring his height to her's. "Uh, yeah, Aunt May says it's a growth spurt. As for the glasses… Uh, I got contacts."

"Growth spurt?" Harriet stared at Peter. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt, so she could see a few of his abs from the way he was facing the sun. She touched his arm to feel solid muscle, "wow, Pete. Do you work out?"

Sirius growled, he didn't like how close the two teenagers were to each other, but the two teens paid no heed to him.

Peter blushed. "Where are you headed?"

"Oh, I was just window shopping with Sirius."

"Sirius? Wait, that's the dog on your Instagram? Wow, he sure is big!" Peter smiled as he went closer to the dog. When he tried to pet him, Sirius bit his hand. "Oh, you don't like that, huh. Sorry big guy."

"Sirius! How could you? He's a friend!" Harriet went closer to Peter to grab his bitten hand, "are you hurt? Did he bite hard?"

Yes, Sirius thought gleefully, but he became confused as to why or how the kid didn't even flinch when he was bitten. He didn't seem phased at all! Did I not bite hard enough?

Peter nervously chuckled and did that adorable habit before answering, "no, not really. Don't worry about it."

"You sure?" She asked worriedly.

"Yeah, of course. I'm fine."

"Let me treat you to something as an apology," Harriet insisted.

Damn it! Sirius thought. Sirius was about to get Harriet's dad, but refrained. He needed to keep a close watch on these horny teenagers. Harriet was too kind for her own good.

The two ate facing each other outside of a nice vintage diner in the middle of Queens. The owners were kind enough to allow Sirius indoors and out the back after Harriet promised Sirius would behave.

"What were you shopping for?" Peter asked, continuing their talk on their walk to the diner.

"Heels," Harriet answered after gulping down a piece of a bite of her hamburger, "my family's friend is getting married, but so far, no luck because of Sirius here. No one's letting us in because of their 'no pets' policy, either that or Sirius is considered too big to fit the categories of dogs. So we've been window shopping. I'll have to come back to buy a pair though which isn't going to be fun alone."

This was Peter's chance to spend some time with Harriet. "Uh, I-I could go with— ow!"

Sirius bit much harder than the previous.

"Sirius! What's wrong with you!" Harriet ripped Sirius apart from Peter's hand. "That's the second time today! — I'm so sorry, Peter. He's not usually like this," Harriet sent a glare at her godfather.

"It's fine. I didn't even feel it."

"No, you definitely felt that one." Harriet scooted close to where Peter was seated, wanting a closer look at the injury and see if she could do anything about it with the band-aid she always carried with her person, but Sirius pulled Harriet's chair back with his teeth.

Sirius thought he succeeded when he saw Harriet was falling to the ground. Fortunately, Peter was quick enough to grab Harriet's hand and wrap his other hand around her waist, stopping her from landing on her bum.

Peter's face was just an inch away from Harriet's when Harriet lifted her eyes to his blues. Peter quickly let go of her once he knew she was safe to stand. They didn't even hear Sirius growling in the background. "Sorry," he apologized to her, though Harriet didn't know what he was apologizing for.

You better be, pretty boy! It was time for plan B: get the actual father to stop these teenagers from being so lovey dovey with each other as soon as possible! Sirius quickly disappeared.

"What for? It's not your fault. It's Sirius who should apologize…!?" Harriet looked around and saw that Sirius was gone.

Peter in the meanwhile was blushing hard. His face was beet red and his heart was beating a thousand miles per second. He tried to laugh it off. He didn't even see that Sirius had disappeared. "Haha, how could a dog apologize…?"

He gulped when he saw Harriet laughing. She was an expert at making his heart go crazy. "You're right. Dogs can't apologize. What was I thinking? — Um, since, you know, my shopping partner ditched me, do you maybe wanna go shopping with me?"

"Y-Yeah, okay!"

Peter: Dude

Neddard: Yo

Peter: I'm with Harriet

Neddard: dudeee

Peter: I know.

~ Who's the man?

Neddard: you are

~ How though

Peter: They say dogs are a man's best friend

Neddard: so…

~ a dog helped you out?

Peter: Kinda

~ Gotta go, I'm helping her pick out shoes

Neddard: You should ask her out man

Peter: WHAT

~ HOW

Neddard: chill!

~ Just be yourself

~ Don't be weird

Peter: What do you want me to do?

~ I can't do both.

Peter gulped after seeing the texts. Shit… Should I really do what Ned told me to? B-But how do I even bring up the talk about a date? Google was fairly useful in that case.

It was almost the end of the day as Peter was rigidly walking Harriet home with a bag in hand as he thought of how to ask Harriet out to a date. Peter finally braved up to ask with the confidence that wikiHow gave him — or he was about to when someone interrupted by calling Harriet.

"Harriet!"

"Dad?"

The figure of a tall male came closer, Sirius following right behind.

Dad…? That's Harriet's dad?! … Shit. What the hell do I say?

"Who's this?" Harriet's dad looked as menacing as a lion in front of fresh meat when his eyes met Peter's.

"Peter, this is my dad, dad, this is Peter. He's a friend from school." All Harriet could think of then was: Please don't embarrass me, dad. "He was kind enough to walk me home."

"Well, that's awfully nice of him…" Peter could feel James' scrutinizing gaze analyzing every inch of him. He felt like a lab rat.

"It's very nice to meet you, sir," Peter greeted nervously.

"Mr. Parker. It's a pleasure. You can go home now, I'm sure you have other things to do."

Harriet rolled her eyes. "Don't be rude, dad. Peter's been nothing but nice to me. He even helped me pick out my shoes for Remus' wedding."

"Wait, wait, wait. That name sounds familiar… Was he the weakling who you protected from a bully?"

"Dad!"

"What?"

Peter didn't know if it was because of the anger or because he was scared of what Harriet's father thought of him, but he was filled with adrenaline or something like it as he blurted, "sir, would a weakling like me be brave enough to ask your daughter out for a date?"

The father and daughter looked at Peter like he was nutters. Peter cursed himself. It was like for a moment there he had a split personality — a completely different Peter Parker who was courageous in the face of doom.

Harriet was blushing beside Peter and she didn't exactly know what to say. James, however, laughed out wholeheartedly as he slapped Peter's shoulder and said, "I like you, kid. You've got guts. You have my approval. Stop by for dinner sometimes."

Peter's eyes widened in utter disbelief. He was afraid he heard Mr. Potter wrong, perhaps this was all just a dream or some hallucination.

Sirius pawed James' leg in bewilderment, looking between James, Harriet, and Peter.

"Come on, Sirius, we're not needed here." James dragged Sirius by his fur when Sirius hadn't moved an inch, gazing intently at Peter. James and a very reluctant Sirius headed further into the pathway into the Potter Manor.

Peter let out the breath he didn't know he was holding. He realized this was actually real life and that this wasn't some dream, and he really did ask Harriet out by telling her father that he was going to ask her out. Peter carefully looked to his side to see Harriet was beet red in the face, no doubt his face was sporting the same look.

"Uh…" Peter faked an awkward cough into his hand. "Sorry… I…" He let out a frustrated sigh, "I didn't mean to—" Peter had stopped when her lips met his for a short time. It was just a short kiss, but to the two of them, it was a beginning to their budding relationship.

Harriet shyly smiled at him, tucking away her long bangs behind her ear. He noticed a visible scar underneath the hair. "Don't worry about it. So, a date, huh?"

"If- If you want to. There's a movie I wanted to see if you want to see it… with me. If you want," he kept stuttering as he failed to meet Harriet's eyes.

"Text me the time and location." Harriet gave one final kiss on his cheek before leaving.

a/n: