Moody's assignment (or Moody's War, as students had begun to call it) did not throw the entire school into chaos as Hermione had predicted - simply because professors declared their classrooms out of bounds, as Professor Dumbledore had done with the Great Hall.

The hallways, however, were a different matter.

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione descended into the dungeons for Potions, a door at the bottom opened a crack and Nullicus bolts shot out. At the same time, the top half of the staircase they had just come down, swung to the left, leaving the three Gryffindors with no retreat.

Ron glanced over the railing.

"Jump!" he said.

The trio vaulted over the railing and took cover behind the stairway. Their assailants continued their onslaught, but with little success. They returned fire, but the narrow opening of the door made it hard to hit their attackers.

"What are we going to do?" said Harry. "We have to go past that door to get to Potions!"

"Do you have your Invisibility Cloak?" said Hermione.

"Yeah." said Harry. "But, we're too tall to all get under it at once. They'd still be able to see most of us."

"Think we can Accio the door off its hinges?" Ron said.

"The only magic we can use in the hallways is Nullicus!" said Hermione. "Professor Moody said we couldn't break any school rules!"

"That's not exactly what he said." Ron said. "He said that if we broke any schools, he wouldn't bail us out"

"Wait!" said Hermione. "Harry, put the cloak on and go open the door so we can hit them!"

Harry threw the cloak over his head, making it simple for him to navigate around the enemy fire. Once he pulled the door open fully, they began pelting the Hufflepuff and two Ravenclaws cowering inside.

"Truce!" shouted the two Hufflepuffs, raising their hands in the air. The Ravenclaw joined soon after.

"Stop!" shouted Harry, holstering his wand.

His friends stopped, but Ron still looked at him in disbelief.

"Are you mental?" he said. "Think of how many hits we could've gotten!"

"It's not sporting, mate." Harry said. Ron frowned, but nodded and holstered his wand.

"Cedric Diggory." said the older Hufflepuff as he shook Harry's hand. "This is Zacharias Smith and Luna Lovegood."

Zacharias glared at Cedric, who nodded and cocked his head at the Gryffindors. Zacharias refocused his glare on Harry and gave him a handshake that seemed intent on breaking Harry's hand. Harry returned the favor while keeping a cool expression on his face.

"Charmed." said Luna. "Well, not charmed as in Charmed, but charmed as in pleased to meet you." She shook their hands with a broad, ethereal smile.

"Well, well." said Cedric, a friendly smile on his face. "Potter, Weasley, and Granger. What a coincidence. We could use your help."

"How so?" said Ron.

"We're trying to get an alliance going." said Luna. "Our three houses against Slytherin. It seems the logical choice."

Ron's suspicious look lessened. "Sounds good to me, but why do you need us?"

"The Prefects are the ones who would make the final decision." said Cedric. "But your brother Percy won't hear of it. We thought you might be able to convince him."

Ron rubbed his temples as if he were getting a headache. "He's a thick-headed git." he said. "But I can try."

"And we figured any idea with Harry behind it would have a better chance of succeeding." Cedric continued. Zacharias rolled his eyes.

"And Hermione, you can research magic that could help us." Luna said, beaming at Hermione.

"Well…" said Hermione. "-we're still not allowed to do any magic in the hallways."

"What do you think the Slytherins are doing?" said Zacharias, a dark expression on his face. "Just this morning they got a first year Hufflepuff with Petrificus Totalus and got about a hundred hits before we chased them off."

Hermione's expression darkened until it was the same as Zacharias'.

"In that case, I'm in." she said.

When they arrived for their first Potions class, they saw that the Order of Merlin, First Class that Snape had received was hanging above the blackboard for all to see. Harry could swear the Potions Master had used an Enlarging Charm on it.

"Open your books to chapter four," said Snape. "We will be starting with poison antidotes. Now, can anyone explain Golpalott's Third Law?"

Snape's eyes swept over the class. Hermione, as usual, knew the answer, and her arm was sticking straight up in the air.

"Miss Granger."

"Yes?" Hermione replied, surprised that Snape had bothered to acknowledge her.

"Did you have an answer? Or your hand was up for exercise?" Snape said, sarcasm dripping from his words..

"Uh, Golpalott's Third Law," Hermione said, "states that the antidote to two or more poisons blended together cannot be made by simply mixing the antidotes to each poison. Instead, the potion-maker must find the single ingredient which, when added, transforms the blended antidotes into the antidote for the blended poison."

Snaps did not respond to Hermione's correct answer. He merely proceeded to the next question.

"Potter, perhaps you can tell us what item can act as an antidote to most poisons?" Snape fixed his gaze on Harry, who was about to say that he didn't know, when the answer came to him.

"A bezoar, sir." Harry said.

"And what, pray tell, is a bezoar?"

"A stone in the stomach of a goat."

Snape turned his attention back to the rest of the class. "Rest assured, I will not accept a bezoar as your antidote at the end of class. You will be brewing Deflating Draught, the antidote for Swelling Solution. Begin."

Following the instructions on the board, Harry began crushing aloe leaves. He didn't see Draco slide his wand out and aim it at him, all the while hiding it behind his cauldron.

When the Tickling Charm bolt hit him, Harry yelped and dropped the sagebrush he had been holding into his cauldron, causing a puff of chartreuse steam to issue from it. Snape looked up from the essays he was grading to see Draco reel back as if he had been struck.

"Professor! Potter tried to hex me!" he said.

"No, he hexed me!" said Harry. The class erupted into chaos as everyone began shouting at once.

"SILENCE!" Snape roared. He regarded Harry with his piercing gaze as he approached his desk.

"Potter, if you are indeed innocent, you'll be happy to give me your wand for inspection."

Harry was so shocked that Snape hadn't automatically sided with Draco that he stood there open mouthed for a moment before reaching into his robes and retrieving his wand. He held it out to Snape with the tip pointed down.

Snape was apparently shocked as well, because he stared at Harry with a confused look for a moment before taking the wand.

"Priori Incantato" he said. A ghostly image snaked from the tip of Harry's wand. It was a scene from Charms class, where Harry had been practicing Accio.

Snape slowly turned to face Draco. "Your wand, Mr. Malfoy." he said. His words drew out like a blade.

Draco withdrew his own wand and presented it to Snape, a sullen expression on his face. Snape repeated the spell, and the whole class could see Draco blasting Harry.

"Such juvenile pranks are unworthy of Slytherin house, Mr. Malfoy. Trade cauldrons with Potter."

Harry was careful not to smirk, lest Snape change his mind, but he memorized the look on Draco's face so that he would be able to treasure it forever.

Draco picked up his cauldron and brought it to Harry, thrusting it into Harry's arms so hard that Harry stumbled back a few steps. Then he collected Harry's cauldron. Harry finished the antidote in record time and presented it to Snape.

Snape took a newt heart from a jar with a pair of tweezers and placed it in a vial of Swelling Solution that was standing on his desk. The organ quickly swelled to five times its normal size. He then dropped it into Harry's cauldron, where it shrank back to normal.

"Adequate." Snape said before vanishing the contents of Harry's cauldron. "Make sure to return Mr. Malfoy's cauldron before you leave."

"Yes, sir." Harry said. He brought the empty cauldron to Draco's table, carrying it under his left arm to make sure his right was free to go for his wand if need be. This time Snape's back was to him, and he made no effort to hide his smirk. He collected his own cauldron, and joined up with Ron and Hermione in the hall.

"What just happened? Can someone explain to me what just happened?" Ron said as they left the Dungeons, wands out and alert. "It seemed like Snape punished Malfoy instead of Harry, but that can't be right."

"Well, he didn't really have a choice." Harry said. "And if the situation were reversed, he'd have given me detention and made me switch cauldrons."

"Yeah, but still…" said Ron. "He never bothered checking your wand before."

"Dunno." said Harry with a shrug.

"Do you think it has something to do with the Order of Merlin?" Hermione said.

"Huh? What does that have to do with anything?" said Ron, frowning.

"He seemed…truly happy when Minister Fudge gave it to him." Hermione said. "Not smug, not gloating…happy. I've never seen him like that before."

"It's just a medal." said Ron.

"It's not the medal itself. It's the recognition. Remember at Sirius' trial-oh, that's right, you weren't there, you were in the Hospital Wing. We found out that Professor Snape used to be one of Voldemort's followers, but he came over to our side and became a double agent. But he never got any recognition for it."

"He shouldn't have been a Death Eater in the first place." said Harry. "He's lucky he didn't get chucked in Azkaban."

"Regardless, he's finally been recognized for something…maybe he's begun to realize that he's more than his past mistakes." said Hermione.

"Well, if it makes Potions a bit more tolerable, I'm all for it." said Ron with a shrug.

"Harry!"

Harry turned to see Sirius waving at him from what was clearly his office.

"Can you stop in for a moment? I need to speak to you."

"Uh, sure." Harry said goodbye to Ron and Hermione and crossed the hall.

"They put my office right across from Professor McGonagall's office." Sirius said as he ushered him in. "If I didn't know better, I'd say she wants to keep an eye on me."

"You don't know better, and I am keeping an eye on you!" Professor McGonagall shouted from her office.

"Oh, Minerva, you're such a kidder." said Sirius, making a dismissive gesture in McGonagall's direction.

Sirius' office was fairly typical, although a mug with the words "TRUST ME, I'M A PROFESSOR" on it sat on his desk. The clock, sneakoscope, and mirror that Harry had seen in Sirius' secret closet at Five Privet Drive all hung on the wall.

Sirius shut the door behind Harry and motioned for him to sit down in a chair near his desk. Sirius moved his chair from behind his desk so that it was across from Harry before sitting down.

"I'm planning a holiday party at Grimauld Place." Sirius said.

"Oh. Ok." said Harry.

"I just wanted to let you know, so you have plenty of time to get ready." his godfather said with a wink.

"Get ready?" Harry said. "But it's months away."

"I meant, in case there's someone you'd like to invite."

"Can Ron and Hermione come?" Harry asked.

Sirius sighed. "Of course they can. You could…bring anyone you like." he said pointedly.

"Uhh….ok." Harry said. "I could invite Nevill…Dean and Seamus too."

Sirius began to massage his temples with his left hand.

"Allow me to explain." Sirius brandished his wand and a large piece of parchment and a quill appeared in the air. The quill drew a large square in one corner and labeled it SIRIUS' HOUSE (SITE OF PROPOSED PARTY). It then drew a stick figure with a lightning bolt scar on its forehead, labeled it HARRY POTTER (THAT'S YOU), and drew a dotted line connecting the figure to the house.

"That's you." Sirius said, speaking slowly. "Note the scar. And the words 'That's You' which I've helpfully placed on the parchment."

Now the quill drew a second figure, this time with long hair that had a bow in it. This figure was labeled HARRY'S DATE TO PARTY (NAME TO BE DETERMINED LATER). A dotted line connected her with Harry's dotted line.

"Any questions?" Sirius said with a cheeky grin as both stick figures held hands and walked toward the house.

Harry's mouth went dry, The temperature in the room seemed to have increased significantly.

"I, uh...I mean, well…" he began.

"I'm just surprised, is all. You're a top Quidditch player. Not half bad looking. Famous. I expected you'd have to fend off potential suitors with a Repulsion Charm."

"Sorry." Harry said, blushing and looking at the floor.

Sirius looked puzzled. "Harry, you don't need to be sorry! You'll find someone when you're ready. I just wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help!"

Harry looked up from the floor.

"Help?" he said. "I...thanks, it's just...well, I guess I don't even really know what to ask for help with."

A glass of water floated into view, and Harry grabbed it like it was a life preserver and took a big gulp.

"Go on." Sirius said.

"I mean...I guess I don't really have much time to think about girls, what with the stuff that's always going on here. I mean last year there was you-no offense..."

"None taken."

"...not to mention the Dementors. Second year, everyone thought I was the Heir of Slytherin...some people probably still do. I mean-" Harry found that now that he was talking it was difficult to stop. "-it just feels like people don't even see me when they look at me, you know? They see The Boy Who Lived. Except for Ron and Hermione. And you."

Sirius nodded. "I've been feeling the same way since my release, to be honest. People look at me and think they know me. But they don't."

"Yeah," said Harry. "Yeah! And on top of that...I mean, girls are impossible to understand!" He sat bolt upright in his chair. "That's something you could help me with. How do I understand girls?"

Sirius smiled and took another sip of tea before answering.

"I thought about that very question while I was in Azkaban," he said. "For a good part of the second year. Or was it the third? You see, you can't think about anything happy because of the Dementors. And, trying to understand women does not lead to happiness. Which is why I will offer you this advice: stop trying."

Harry was gobsmacked. "What? You're joking, right?"

"I'm serious as a Killing Curse. Harry, some of the deepest magic in the world comes from the depths of the human soul - whether male or female. What hope does any of us truly have of understanding anyone?"

Sirius finished his tea and put the mug back on his desk.

"You forgot one thing." Harry said, gesturing at the parchment, which still hung in the air.

"Oh?"

"Where's your date?"

Sirius leaned back in his chair, steepled his fingers, and narrowed his eyes.

"Well played, godson, well played. I confess I did not see that coming. Well, can you recommend anyone?"

"Well, there's Professor Trelawey." Harry said with a cheeky grin of his own.

Sirius nodded in mock seriousness. "Mmm. Bit old for me though."

"True. That would also rule out Professor Sprout and Professor McGonagall."

"You're absolutely right!" yelled McGonagall from across the hall. Harry flushed; clearly she had been listening in on the conversation.

"Haven't you got anything better to do, Minerva?" Sirius asked loudly.

"It's either this or grading papers; which one would you pick?"

"Touche."

Harry crossed his arms and flicked up his eyebrows in an impatient gesture. Sirius nodded.

"I suppose there's always Mrs. Norris." Sirius said with a sigh.

There was a sound from the other wall, rather like a choked laugh.

"I think Filch might take issue with that," Harry said.

Sirius nodded and sipped his tea. "It would seem my options are quite limited."

"I suppose you're right."

"Unlike yours."

Harry sighed.