A/N: Thank you, thank you for reading and reviewing! Enjoy!

Chapter 24 - 3.3 or "Want a Hug Now We're Reunited?"

Lily had had a fantastic summer.

Away from Hogwarts, away from the lessons and drama and personal grudges, she and Severus had quickly become as close as they had ever been. Petunia, now fifteen, had gone away for much of the summer, visiting a friend in Wales, and in her absence, Severus had spent nearly every afternoon at the Evans' house, laughing and chatting and brainstorming ideas for new spells with Lily. It was easy to forget sometimes, when they were ensconced in the turmoil of Hogwarts, why their friendship worked, but their time together over the summer had reinvigorated her affection for him. When it was just the two of them, he was less confrontational, less snide, quicker to make a wry joke or to laugh at her pluck.

So when Lily passed through the barrier to platform nine and three-quarters on the first of September, she almost felt a certain mourning for the summer she was leaving behind. Almost.

Her parents, who had a long drive back to Cokeworth, dropped her off almost an hour before the train was set to depart, and the platform was nearly empty. It took her several minutes to drag her trunk onboard, and once she had maneuvered it into an empty compartment, she glanced at the clock visible on the platform and discovered that she still had forty-five minutes before the train would leave. She sat down in her compartment and tapped her wand impatiently against her leg, anxious to reunite with her friends and get back to Hogwarts; after only a few minutes, she popped right back up to her feet and left the compartment to wander the corridor of the train, just for something to occupy her time.

The car she was in was completely empty, so she navigated her way into the adjacent car, peering into the compartment windows as she passed. About halfway down the car, she found her passage blocked by Regulus Black, whom she recognized immediately as a slighter version of his brother, though he was somewhat less-handsome and his grey eyes lacked the warm laughter that she had come to identify with the elder Black. He was trying to maneuver his own trunk through a compartment door and appeared to have gotten it thoroughly stuck.

"Do you need a hand?" Lily asked warily. She had never spoken to Regulus before, but her experiences with the majority of his fellow Slytherins had not been positive ones, on the whole.

"Oh," he said, glancing at her before pushing his hair out of his eyes in a distracted sort of way. "Er, yeah…okay, if you don't mind."

Slightly surprised that he had taken her up on her offer, Lily leaned over and began tugging on the trunk alongside him. It did not budge.

"Wow," she said, standing up straight again and staring down at the offending trunk. "This is an impressive packing job. How did you even manage to get it lodged in there like that?"

"Talent, I guess," he said wryly, also staring at the wedged trunk.

Lily smirked and pointed her wand at it. "Wingardium Leviosa," she muttered, and the trunk dislodged at once and floated into the air, where she then directed it onto the luggage rack in the compartment.

"Still got it," she said, stowing her wand and turning back to Regulus proudly. "And I thought I might be rusty after two months of no magic."

"No magic?" he asked, looking at her curiously before realization crossed his face. "Oh wait, I know you…you're that Gryffindor in my brother's year. Mudblood. Evans, isn't it?"

He was not sneering at her like the others who called her Mudblood, but she scowled at him nonetheless. "I might be Muggle-born, but which one of us thought to use magic on that trunk, and which one of us would have still been stuck here pushing and grunting at it like a troll if I hadn't shown up?"

He did not say anything, but his cheeks flushed ever-so-slightly.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. You're welcome, by the way," she snapped, pushing past him and into the next train car. She had not missed being called a Mudblood for the past two months.

A few more students were milling about the platform now, calling out greetings to their friends and hugging their parents goodbye, and Lily watched them as she navigated the train. She stopped and said hello to Elliott Stebbins, a curly-haired Hufflepuff in her year whom she liked very much, and to Susanna O'Shea, the Gryffindor Seeker, who smiled brightly at her and asked about her summer. In the very last compartment of the very last train car, she found Sirius Black sitting with a Gryffindor she had never spoken to before, a strikingly pretty fifth year called Didina Murphy.

"Evans!" greeted Sirius cheerfully when Lily appeared in the doorway. "Good to see you. How was your summer?"

Something about Sirius seemed different to Lily; his hair was longer and falling into his eyes more than usual, his skin had the unmistakable pigment of someone who had recently spent a good deal of time in the sun, and he was taller and somehow seemed more confident than normal. But the thing that struck her was that he was wearing Muggle clothes. She had never seen him in anything other than wizard's robes.

"Great," she said, glancing curiously at Didina. "And yours?"

"Excellent. I spent most of it at James's house. We had a blast."

"I can imagine," Lily replied. "And is the house still standing?"

"Barely." He grinned and then glanced at Didina before turning back to Lily. "Hey, Evans, since you're here, you can help with an argument Murphy and I have been having."

"Can I?" Lily asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Murphy here insists that she and her friends sit in this compartment every train ride. But I know for a fact that my mates and I have sat in this compartment for the last three journeys. Neither of us wants to give it up."

Lily snorted. "That's quite a dilemma."

Didina tossed her long brown hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes at Sirius, who simply smirked and propped his feet up on the seat in front of him.

"If you don't get out of here in the next two minutes, Black, I will hex that smirk right off your face," she said, though her threatening tone was betrayed by the fact that the corners of her lips were twitching.

Sirius grinned even wider and did not take his eyes off of Didina even as he spoke to Lily. "See what I'm dealing with, Evans? I even tried to compromise – said I'd be perfectly willing to share the compartment with her and her mates for the ride, just out of the goodness of my heart."

"I'd say it's a lost cause," Lily told Didina. "If I were you, I'd get the farthest compartment away from here that you can find. You think he's annoying now? Just wait until Potter shows up and the annoyance factor multiplies ten-fold."

Didina laughed and Sirius said, "Ouch, don't hold back on my account, Evans."

"Do I ever?"

"Glad to see that you missed me this summer. Want a hug now we're reunited?" he asked her, holding his arms out as if expecting her to hug him and grinning devilishly at her.

She snorted again and turned on her heel, ready to be away from him. "Good luck, Didina," she said. "See you later, Black."

His response – cheeky as it undoubtedly was – was muffled by the compartment door, which snapped closed behind her. Shaking her head, she made her way back up the corridor and into the next train car. She stopped and chatted with a smattering of other students as she wandered back through the train and she was in high spirits by the time she returned to her own car, where she noticed a very familiar figure walking ahead of her, a curtain of black hair obscuring his face.

Lily hurried up behind him and got very close before saying loudly, "Hi, stranger!"

Severus visibly jumped and turned to look at her, a wide smile breaking across his face. "Hi," he said, his eyes poring over her as if he hadn't seen her in months when, in fact, they had said goodbye only the previous afternoon. "Your journey okay, then?"

"Oh, it was fine, I got here a while ago. I have a compartment up here, come on."

She led him to her compartment, where they stowed his trunk and sat down across from one another. They chatted idly for a while, watching the platform outside their window fill up as more and more students appeared through the barrier, Lily commenting on who had grown over the summer or had gotten a new hairstyle, Severus uttering quiet, noncommittal replies. About ten minutes before the train was set to depart, Lily glanced up and saw Gin Leigh and Ev Linney walking past their compartment and she jumped up to slide the door open at once.

"Lily!" Ev said, throwing her arms around her in excitement. "How are you?"

"Great," said Lily, smiling at them both, thrilled to be among so many people she liked once again. "You need a place to sit? You can sit with us, if you'd like."

"Okay, thanks," said Gin. Both girls settled themselves into the compartment and smiled hesitantly at Severus, who immediately tensed and drew himself closer to the window. Lily frowned at him but did not dwell on it.

"Tell us about Portugal, Ev," said Lily, who knew Ev's family had gone on holiday to southern Portugal for much of the summer.

"Oh, it was wonderful," Ev sighed nostalgically. "We were a few days in Lisbon visiting my parents' friends, and then we went south and spent every day on the beach and it was hot, but not too hot, you know?"

"I can tell," Lily said. "You're so tan, you look great!"

Ev beamed at her. "Thanks! I didn't want to leave, it was so beautiful there."

The compartment door banged open and Adin clambered in, followed closely by her sister Kaia. There was quite a bit of excited squealing and hugs as they all said hello, Severus sitting forgotten in the corner. They had barely sat down and gotten comfortable when Adin looked around, seemingly unable to contain her excitement any longer.

"Danny kissed me!"

Severus made a small noise in his throat that no one except Lily seemed to notice, but when she looked at him, he was staring resolutely out the window.

"Really?" asked Lily, who had heard a lot about the Muggle boy who lived down the street from Adin. "When?"

"Yesterday," said Adin, who seemed beside herself with happiness. "We were saying goodbye for the term in the back garden and he kissed me!"

"You would have thought she had been kissed by the bloody King of England, the way she was going on about it last night," said Kaia. "I told her I was going to tell Dad if she didn't shut up about it."

"You're just jealous," said Adin dreamily.

"He's a Muggle, right?" asked Ev.

"Yes," Adin said. "A gorgeous Muggle."

"Are you going to write him, then? How does that work?"

Adin nodded. "I've thought it all through. You can send Muggle post from Hogsmeade, and since we finally get to go to Hogsmeade this year, I can send him letters and vice versa." She paused and then seemed to remember something. "Oh, and speaking of gorgeous, Kaia and I just ran into Sirius near the back of the train…he's in Muggle clothes and holy Merlin he is looking good."

Lily laughed at Adin's audacity, but her laughter died when Severus stood abruptly.

"I think that's my cue to leave," he muttered dryly, pushing past the girls and sliding open the compartment door. "I'll see you later, Lily."

"Okay," she said, not blaming him for wanting to get away from this conversation. "I'll come find you later, yeah?"

He gave a curt nod and disappeared into the corridor, right as the train gave a great lurch and started to move. Lily did not feel bad about Severus. They had spent every day together for two months; she wanted to use the train ride to catch up with her other friends.

"What about you, Gin? How was your holiday?" she asked Gin, who had remained her normal quiet self throughout the conversation.

"Yeah," said Adin cheerfully. "Kiss any Muggles?"

Gin smiled and shook her head. "No kissing, Adin, sorry to disappoint. It was pretty boring, actually. Helped my mum in her shop. She has a new boyfriend – Rolf is his name. He's a bit of an idiot, to be honest, but nice enough."

"It seems like your mum has a new bloke every time I talk to you," said Ev.

"Tell me about it," Gin tucked her long hair behind her ear. "They only ever tend to last a few months, though."

"You got your ears pierced!" squealed Kaia, moving in closer to get a better look at the small sparkling studs that glimmered on Gin's earlobes.

"Oh yeah," said Gin awkwardly as the other girls oohed and aahed over the earrings. "My mum did it for me at the beginning of the summer…said it would make my ears look more dainty."

"Your mum is so cool," said Ev.

"Yeah, our parents said we can't get our ears pierced until we're of age!" said Adin, as if this were a national tragedy.

"They look really good, Gin. Very…er…dainty."

Gin gave Lily a half smile, clearly uncomfortable with all the attention. "Thanks."

Talk of their summers continued into the afternoon and it was only after the lunch trolley had come and gone and the train had moved into the wild countryside that the conversation slowed. After lunch, Kaia bid them farewell and left in search of some of her second-year friends. Various students stuck their heads into the compartment to say hello throughout the day and late in the afternoon, a sixth-year Hufflepuff with a prefect badge gleaming on her chest came by to say hi to Ev.

"That's my cousin, Gwynne," Ev explained, once the girl had disappeared back down the corridor. "Her family was in Portugal with mine this summer and I think she finally realized I'm not an annoying eight-year-old anymore."

"Wasn't she dating Newlyn Gallit for a while last year?" Adin asked, always ready for new gossip.

"For a bit," Ev said, "but then she caught him snogging Fiona Beal behind the greenhouses and chucked him."

"Ew, what a jerk," said Adin, pulling a face.

"Oh but that reminds me," said Ev, sitting up excitedly. "Gwynne was telling me about this potion called the Babbling Beverage, have you heard of it?"

"The one that makes you say nonsense?" Lily asked.

"Yes, apparently it's become very trendy among the older Hufflepuffs. You can modify it, see? Add more belladonna or something – I'm rubbish at Potions, can't quite remember – and then it's a real laugh to take, or so Gwynne says."

"What's it do?" Gin asked, turning her attention from the countryside that had been flashing past the window.

"Makes you chatty. Lowers your inhibitions. She said some of the fourth years were taking it before dates last year, to lessen the nerves. Anyway, I was thinking of trying to get my hands on some, just for fun."

"Lily could brew some," said Adin. "She's brilliant at Potions."

"It's not dangerous, then, Ev?" Lily asked, her interest piqued more by the thought of modifying a standard potion instead of actually taking it. She had not done much experimenting for anything other than Slughorn's class before.

Ev shook her head. "Not according to Gwynne, and she's a prefect. I'll find out more about the ingredients, if you want. It's exciting, though, isn't it? I bet nobody else in our year has tried it…feels a bit rebellious."

Lily laughed. "Since when has any of us ever been rebellious?"

Adin grinned at her, her dark eyes sparkling. "Seems as good a time to start as any!"

And as the train rolled on toward Hogwarts, Lily laughing and joking with her friends, all thoughts of end of summer sadness was left far behind.

The first night back at Hogwarts was rather uneventful for Remus; indeed, the mere fact that Sirius hadn't lost his temper and punched any walls had made the evening significantly less memorable than the previous year. Their first lesson of the term would be Defense Against the Dark Arts, and the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw third years were queued outside the classroom, awaiting the arrival of the new professor whom Dumbledore had introduced at the feast the previous night.

"Well, the bright side is that she can't be worse than Philpott," Remus said to his friends, hitching his bag higher on his shoulder as they waited.

James was leaning against the corridor wall, a dreamy look of reminiscence on his face. "Yeah, I'm really going to miss messing with old Philpott though."

"Agreed," said Sirius. "It's not every day we get to torment a professor like that."

"Ah well," James said, "there's always Snivellus."

"And Filch…"

"And the rest of the Slytherins…"

"Yes," said Sirius, "I think we'll have plenty of ways to stay busy this year."

"What do you reckon?" James lowered his voice to a whisper. "Back to the fourth floor tonight to resume our Transfiguration homework?"

The boys had decided to start referring to the Animagi project as "Transfiguration homework" whenever they were around other people. Remus thought this was, all in all, a good idea, though if anyone had overheard them at this point, the fact that they had not even had a Transfiguration lesson yet would have made it a little suspicious.

"Good idea," whispered Peter, looking excited. "I really think I'm getting close to connecting with…well, whatever we're supposed to be connecting with."

Remus glanced at Sirius and was unsurprised to see him looking annoyed by the fact that Peter was making more progress than he himself was.

"Okay, we'll get back to it tonight," Sirius agreed, before turning his eyes toward the cluster of Gryffindor girls who were standing on the other side of the corridor. "But we still have to figure out how to get into the girls' dormitory, James."

"Are you still on about that?" Remus asked.

Sirius looked greatly offended by the suggestion that he may have given up on the idea. "Am I still on about that?" he scoffed. "Really, Remus. There has to be a way around that staircase issue, and we're going to figure out what it is."

"You think you're cleverer than the founders, do you?" said Remus, who had absolutely no interest in sneaking up to the girls' dormitory and could not understand why Sirius wouldn't let the idea drop.

"My being cleverer than the founders is beside the point," said Sirius smugly, to which James laughed. "The point is, they had to make some way to get by that staircase thing. What if there was an emergency up there? What if Dumbledore had to get up there for some reason?"

"Well I imagine that Dumbledore might know some magic that you don't, Sirius," said Remus.

"We'll do it soon. We'll skip dinner and try to get up there then," James told Sirius, who looked somewhat appeased. "Best not do it when anyone else is in Gryffindor Tower."

Remus sighed, resigned to the fact that once the pair of them had their minds set on something, there was absolutely no getting them to change course. Determined not to waste his breath arguing any further, he looked around the corridor at his classmates. A few Ravenclaw girls kept sneaking glances at the four of them and giggling – Remus tried not to stare.

The chatter in the corridor died immediately when the new professor appeared, smiling at them and opening the classroom door to allow them all entrance. Remus followed James, Peter, and Sirius to their standard seats in the back, feeling oddly excited for some reason at the prospect of a new professor; as he had told his friends, she could not possibly be any worse than Philpott. Everyone settled into their desks and watched the professor, who smiled cheerfully at them all and hopped up to sit on top of her own desk at the front of the room.

"Hello and welcome!" Her voice was high-pitched and held a quiver of excitement. "My name is Laurel Romielle and I'll be your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for the year."

Professor Romielle was younger than any other teacher Remus had ever seen – by the looks of her, she couldn't be older than twenty-five. She had a pleasant, moon-shaped face with warm brown eyes and honey-colored hair that fell to her shoulders. The way that she was perched on top of her desk, her legs swinging backward and forward happily, reminded Remus of when his mother would place him on the kitchen worktop when he was young and he would watch her as she cooked, eagerly awaiting the chance to lick the pudding spoon.

"I'm very excited to be here," Professor Romielle told them, her eyes flickering to each of them in turn. "I've looked over the notes my predecessors have made and was surprised to see how little practical Defense you have been taught over the past two years. I believe this is one of the reasons that Professor Dumbledore reached out to the Auror office this summer looking for a suitable candidate to fill this position."

"You're an Auror?" Goomer asked from the front of the room.

Professor Romielle did not look remotely annoyed at having been interrupted; in fact, she smiled brightly, as if nothing made her happier than telling people she was an Auror.

"I am. I finished my training about three years ago. As I was saying, Dumbledore came to the Auror office when Professor Philpott resigned, looking for a trained Auror who would be willing to take on this position. I agreed to the job in a temporary fashion, so I'm only signed on for the school year, but my plan is to teach you as much as I can before I return to my standard position at the Ministry."

There was a bit of shuffling and murmuring as the students now gazed at their teacher with newfound respect. Excitement fluttered through Remus; he had never met an Auror before and now they would be trained by one for the entire year. Professor Romielle paused for a few moments, allowing them all time to settle down before continuing, her legs still swinging backward and forward from her perch on the desk.

"Please," she said, "don't be shy. If you have questions, you are welcome to ask them. If not, we will get started on the lesson."

James, who was looking curiously at Romielle as if trying to size her up, raised his hand. "Why would you want to give up being an Auror to come teach at Hogwarts? Seems like a bit of a letdown to me."

"Well, I haven't given up being an Auror, nor will I ever. As I said, this is a temporary position for me, and I will still be working for the Ministry in the evenings and on the weekends." She paused, as if contemplating her situation. "Professor Dumbledore thinks – and I strongly agree – that these days, having students properly trained in Defense Against the Dark Arts is extremely important, and who better to train you than someone who has recently finished years of strenuous Ministry training herself? I am very honored to be here, to have been awarded this responsibility. I look forward to getting to know you all and to helping you become better witches and wizards this year."

Remus glanced around at his classmates. Everyone seemed much more interested and impressed than usual.

"If there are no other questions –" Romielle paused and looked around expectantly to see if anyone's hand went up before continuing "– then we shall get started. The first part of the year will be dedicated solely to defensive spells. Shields, counterjinxes, and the like. Now, if you please, stand up from your desks and split into pairs."

There was a lot of loud scraping and clambering as the students did what they were told. Romielle hopped off of her desk and waved her wand to make the students' desks push themselves against the outer edge of the room, leaving a large open area in the middle in which they could practice. She moved to stand in the center of it and began pacing back and forth as she talked to them all.

"We will be starting with the most basic of Shield Charms – Protego. Protego has many uses, the most common of which is to simply block standard spells and jinxes that are cast at you. As we master this function, then we will move on to learning about its variations and how Shield Charms can be cast to protect others as well, to create magical barriers, and to enchant specific areas or objects for extended periods of time."

It was the most exciting Defense class that any of them had ever experienced. Predictably, James and Sirius, who were partnered together, were the first to successfully cast the spell, and Professor Romielle – looking extremely impressed – awarded them each five points for Gryffindor. To his utter shock, Remus followed shortly thereafter, the charm working to completely block the sparks that Peter had shot at him so that they disintegrated into thin air.

"Excellent," said Romielle, walking over to where Remus stood and smiling warmly at him. "Very strong work indeed, Mr…"

"Lupin," Remus answered, feeling proud.

Romielle's smile wavered slightly for a moment, but the next second it was right back in place. Remus felt his stomach drop a little, understanding that she had recognized his name; no doubt, Dumbledore had already made her aware of his condition. He broke her gaze and stared at the floor.

"Nicely done, Mr. Lupin," she said softly. "Five points to Gryffindor."

By the time the bell rang to signal the end of the lesson, Remus, Sirius, James, and a couple of overachieving Ravenclaws were the only students to have successfully cast the spell. Unable to forget the brief, faltering way the professor had looked at him, though, Remus followed his friends to Transfiguration with an uneasy wriggling in the pit of his stomach.

Sirius received a shock the next morning at breakfast. He had just started digging into his eggs when loud rustling and screeching alerted the Great Hall to the arrival of the morning post. Having only ever received one letter during his entire tenure at Hogwarts – a Howler from his mother in first year – Sirius did not even look up until a brown barn owl landed in front of him, its large wing knocking over his juice.

James moved to save his own juice from the same fate. "Who's it from?"

Curious, Sirius untied the letter from the owl's leg and tore it open at once. The handwriting was small and slanted. His eyes flashed to the signature at the bottom of the parchment.

"It's from my cousin Andromeda," he said, interest extremely piqued. He had not spoken to her since she had left Hogwarts, and the last he had heard, she had run off with a Muggle-born the previous year. He began reading.

"Sirius,

I hope this letter finds you well. I regret that we have lost touch since I left Hogwarts and, if you are amenable, I would like to try to remedy that. I'm sure you have heard that I have married a Muggle-born called Ted Tonks – no doubt, your mother had a similar reaction to my own mother at the news. Almost a year later, and my ears are still ringing from the shrieking.

Conscious of the fact that any post sent to you at Grimmauld Place may fall into Aunt Walburga's hands, I have waited until your return to Hogwarts before bestowing my news upon you. Last month, I gave birth to a baby girl, who we've named Nymphadora. I've enclosed a photo, if you're interested. She is a sweet baby, and we've realized in recent weeks that she is a Metamorphmagus. It came as quite a shock when one night she went to sleep with dark brown hair, and when I got her from her cot the next morning (early the next morning, let me tell you), she was suddenly a ginger. I've no idea where she got the trait from – Ted certainly has no family history of Metamorphmagi, and I've never heard of any Blacks who've had that trait either, have you? It seems completely random.

Nymphadora's birth made me realize how isolated I have become now that I'm no longer an accepted member of the Black family, and has reaffirmed my desire to solidify the few familial relationships that are not lost to me. It was a lonely realization, to only have Uncle Alphard to confide my happy news in. You were always my favorite cousin and I believe, out of everyone else in the family, that you and Alphard are the only ones who would not wish me pain, dismemberment, or death solely due to the person I fell in love with.

Please write back if you're feeling up to it. If not, if I am out of line in reaching out, then good luck to you, Sirius.

Andromeda"

From behind the letter, Sirius pulled a photograph of a very small baby with curly blonde hair, who was blinking up at him with big eyes. He looked up at his friends, who were all watching him curiously.

"Andromeda's had a baby," he said, holding up the photograph for them to see and then starting to laugh loudly.

"What's so funny about that?" asked Peter.

"She doesn't want the family to know, but they'll find out soon enough, I reckon, and my mother's going to go absolutely insane…I love it," Sirius said between chuckles, happily scanning over the letter again. A strange, joyful feeling was overtaking him at the thought of a family member who wanted to associate with him. Of course he had known that Andromeda had run off with a Muggle-born and had been blasted off the family tree as a result, but he had never fully processed the repercussions of it. He was no longer the sole Black outcast and she, undoubtedly, was even more of an outcast than him. He handed the letter to James to read and turned back to his eggs.

"Nymphadora? Blimey, not giving the kid much of a chance, are they?" James asked after a few moments of his eyes zooming back and forth over the page. "So are you going to write her back?"

"Of course. Have to congratulate her on further infuriating my mother and aunt." He paused. "Oh, and for having a baby too, I guess."

Sirius's thoughts remained on Andromeda through the rest of breakfast. He, Peter, and James had their first Muggle Studies class that morning, so they bade Remus (who was taking Arithmancy) goodbye and made their way up to the fifth-floor classroom, which was covered in bright photographs of Muggle contraptions, including one that Sirius now recognized as a Muggle torch.

The class, which was taught by a round, middle-aged witch called Professor Lumpkin, was less exciting than most in that there was no practical magic for them to perform, but it was still quite interesting. It was a small class – other than Sirius, Peter, and James, the only other Gryffindors taking it were Raeanne and Goomer. There were a handful of Hufflepuffs and only two Ravenclaws, who were looking hesitant, as if their time could be better used somewhere else. Thankfully, and unsurprisingly, there were no Slytherins. Professor Lumpkin was very cheerful and spent the lesson giving them an overview of something called electricity, which seemed very complex to Sirius, though it at least explained somewhat how those torches worked.

Sirius wrote a brief but congratulatory reply to Andromeda during break that afternoon, telling her that he wished her well and hoped they could keep in touch. If nothing else, he was excited by the prospect of receiving post from time to time. After dinner that evening, he asked James if he could borrow Ari and started the trek up to the Owlery to send his letter.

He had just passed the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy on the seventh floor when he spotted Gin Leigh walking ahead of him, her long blonde curls giving her away even at a distance. He hurried to catch up to her.

"Hi," he said, falling into step next to her and noticing that she had only a small paperback book in her hand.

She looked up in surprise. "Hello."

Of course, she said nothing else to further the conversation, so he held up his letter for her to see. "Going up to the Owlery before curfew. You?"

She pulled a folded letter from the pages of her book and showed it to him. "Yep, me too."

Why this excited him, he could not say. "You bring a book with you, even to the Owlery."

She shrugged and tucked the letter back into the safety of the book. "I was in the library reading."

"For fun?" he said, trying not to look at her too much as they turned a corner into a narrower, more dimly-lit corridor that would lead them to the west side of the castle. A brief smile was her only response, so Sirius asked, "Who are you writing to?"

"My mum."

"Already? But we've only been here two days!"

She glanced at him, as if unsure whether he was making fun of her or not. "I write to my mum every few days and vice versa."

"Do you really?" Sirius asked, amazed.

Gin nodded, and he thought for a second that she again would have no other response, but then she added, "I tell her everything."

"Everything?"

"Everything."

A few bubbly-looking Hufflepuff second years walked past them in the other direction, stealing glances at Sirius, who smirked at them. Once they passed, he glanced at Gin again, but she seemed not to have noticed the brief interchange.

"So did you tell your mum about the time you attacked me in the Hogwarts kitchens?" Sirius asked, suddenly desperate to get a reaction out of her.

She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I attacked you? Interesting memory you've got."

They turned right at the end of the corridor, next to a statue of Lachlan the Lanky, and began climbing the long stone staircase that coiled up the West Tower to the Owlery.

"I remember you inviting yourself along when I went to the kitchens to nick some food after the Quidditch Final last year –"

"I offered to help."

"– and then while we were waiting for Queenie the house elf to bring us the eclairs, you just jumped on me."

"If you say so," she said, infuriatingly unfazed. Considering this was not how it had happened – he had most certainly been the instigator in the kitchens – he had been hoping for a less reserved response. He sped up to get in front of her and then began climbing the stairs backward, a step ahead of her, smirking down at her.

"I do say so. I also say you can't seem to resist me."

"Is that right?"

"Well, you keep finding me conveniently alone in random spots round the castle – the library, the kitchens, hidden staircases, the Owlery…"

This made her stop her ascent, gazing up at him with her head tilted slightly to the side. He, too, paused his backward climb, standing two steps above her.

"You're right," she said coolly. "Actually, I have a map of the castle back in my trunk and it tells me where you are at all times, with a little dot that moves about and is labeled 'Sirius Black.' And I check it every day, just hoping that I can find you alone in some secluded corner of the school."

Sirius grinned at her sarcasm, eyes dancing. He had far too much fun teasing her. "There it is. Knew we'd get there eventually."

She sighed and walked past him, evidently annoyed at herself for sinking to his level. "Can I just send my letter in peace?"

He hurried to catch up to her, once again matching her stride as she climbed the stairs. "So what'd you write to your mum?"

Her lips pressed into a thin line and she looked at him out of the side of her eye. "Why?"

"Just wondering. I've never written a letter to my mum, you know. Curious as to what someone might say."

Gin shrugged and pushed open the door that led to the Owlery, which was shadowy in the fading light, the stone floor covered in owl droppings and the skeletons of small creatures. "I told her about the first few days…about the new class I had today – Care of Magical Creatures – and about Professor Romielle, and how she seems pretty good."

Sirius stood watching her as she called down one of the school owls and began tying her letter to its outstretched leg.

"Yeah," he said, completely forgetting about his own letter and leaning against the stone Owlery wall in a casual manner. "She does seem pretty good. Who would have thought we'd get an Auror teaching us this year? Polar opposite from Philpott…"

She did not look at him, but kept her eyes focused on her fingers, which were struggling to undo a wayward knot in the twine she was using. "I think it's brilliant. I'd like to be an Auror one day."

Sirius raised his eyebrows at her, despite the fact that she was still not paying him any attention. "Really? An Auror?"

"Yes, I think so."

"I'd have guessed you wanted to be a professional reader."

"Is that a thing?"

He shrugged. "Isn't it really difficult to become an Auror?"

Her fingers seemed to finally find their way through the knot, and she glanced up at him before she finished tying the letter to the owl, a slight crease between her eyebrows.

"I'd still like to try."

She finished with her letter and the owl had soared off through one of the tall, glassless windows before she turned and looked at him again.

"Weren't you going to send your letter as well?"

"Oh yeah," he said, feeling slightly preoccupied. He walked around the circular room, peering up into the rafters for Ari, feeling her eyes on the back of his neck. It took him less time than it had taken her to tie his letter to Ari's leg and send the owl on its way, but he was heartened by the fact that she had stood there, patiently waiting for him, when she easily could have left him there alone.

"Are you ready to go, then?" she asked.

She was standing near the entrance to the room, one arm hanging loosely at her side, with the other holding her book against her stomach, a look of frustrating indifference on her face. From across the airy room he looked at her and decided, suddenly and with no conscious thought, that he wanted to fluster her, wanted to make her blush at him like those Hufflepuffs had, like Maria the Muggle had. He walked toward her purposefully and she did not move or look away.

He stopped right in front of her, his eyes flickering involuntarily to her lips, thinking that he would like to kiss her again, then and there. She seemed to know what he was thinking and took a step back, toward the door to the staircase.

"I'm not kissing you right now, Sirius," she said calmly.

He felt a flutter of disappointment and embarrassment at his own transparency, but pushed it away and shot her a half-grin. "Why not?"

She gave him a look that he could not decipher. "Because we're surrounded by straw and owl droppings and rodent skeletons."

Whatever he had been expecting, this had not been it. He laughed and looked around the floor, realizing that she was exactly right. He had not considered that the ambiance might be a factor in wanting to kiss someone or not. To his disappointment, when he looked up again, she was walking out of the room and starting back down the staircase. He followed behind her, wanting to stop her, to keep this conversation going, wanting to figure out just how to push her buttons…

"I snogged a Muggle this summer," he said boldly.

She was a few steps ahead of him so he could not see her face and only watched the back of her head for some sort of reaction. He did not get one.

"Did you?" she asked in an unfazed tone.

"Yep," he said, hurrying to catch up to her so he could see her face.

"That seems to be going around," she said lightly.

He stared at her. "What? Who else do you know who snogged a Muggle this summer?"

She smiled slightly. "That's none of your business." After pausing for a moment, she gave him a quick glance. "So how was it?"

"Good," he said, still frustrated by her coolness. "Not as good as you."

She stopped walking, three steps from the bottom of the staircase, and he was energized by finally getting a reaction out of her. He stopped next to her and she surveyed him, the small smile still tugging at her lips.

"Do you like me, Sirius?"

"No," he said quickly. "Why? Do you like me?"

"No."

"Well, good then."

And then she leaned in and kissed him, a very quick, very unexpected peck on the lips. He was so shocked that he did not try for a more proper kiss – or, indeed, move at all – and by the time he had found his legs again, she had already finished her descent of the staircase and disappeared up the corridor. Once again, he hurried to catch up.

"So what was that for?"

She shrugged. "Who were you writing to?"

"What?"

"Your letter. I was just wondering who you were writing to. I told you about mine, after all."

"Oh," he said, thoroughly discombobulated, having forgotten entirely about his letter. "I was writing to my cousin Andromeda. She's had a baby."

"I thought you didn't get on with your cousins?"

He was still trying to wrap his head around the quick kiss she had just given him and he had to struggle to keep up with the normal conversation. "Andromeda's the only cousin I like. She ran off and married a Muggle-born last year. Big scandal…she was disowned immediately."

Gin frowned, her eyes straight ahead of her. "She was disowned for marrying a Muggle-born?"

"That's my family for you."

"Well that's good of you to write to her. I can't imagine not being welcome with my own family."

"You get used to it," said Sirius wryly.

"Are they really that horrible?"

He didn't know when the conversation had turned serious and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to continue down this road with her right then.

"Yes, but I'll survive," he said lightly. She seemed to pick up on the dismissal of conversation and did not press him further.

A loud crash and cackling from ahead of them made them both start.

"Peeves," Sirius muttered, recognizing the gleeful laughter at once. He glanced around, noting their location, and grabbed Gin's hand, pulling her across the corridor. Ignoring her mumbled questioning, he tapped the base of a suit of armor with the toe of his shoe, and the armor sprang out of the way at once, revealing a secret passageway behind it. Sirius pulled her in and then dropped her hand. "Come on, we'll go round by Flitwick's office and then cut back up."

She stared at him as they walked through the narrow corridor, the burning torches every few feet giving it an eerie, orange, flickering glow. "How did you know this was here?"

He shrugged. "James and I found it last year."

She glanced around, seemingly impressed, and he tried not to grin.

"Do the two of you know every secret passageway in the school?" she asked, after a few moments of silence.

"No, but the plan is to get there eventually."

"How do you find them?"

"It takes courage," he said with mock seriousness. "And genius. And exceptional magical skill."

She snorted but did not respond. They had reached the end of the passageway, and he pushed open the wall at the end and motioned for her to climb through ahead of him. Emerging into the more brightly lit corridor, he saw her looking around as if trying to determine where they were. They turned left and started walking again, side by side.

"So this Muggle girl…" she started, looking straight ahead of her, and Sirius felt a thrill of excitement that she was still thinking about him kissing someone else.

"What about her?"

"I can't imagine your family would be too pleased, then, to know you were kissing Muggles?"

"Well that's true," he said, as they turned down the Fat Lady's corridor. "Just an added bonus, I guess."

She gave him a brief, appraising look, but did not say anything else. He watched her, as she murmured the password to the Fat Lady and climbed through the portrait hole, and something wriggled uncomfortably in his stomach, something that felt separate from the excitement that had been there since he had spotted her in the corridor, and he continued watching her in the common room that evening until she disappeared up the dormitory staircase, her hair swinging behind her, never once glancing back at Sirius.