“Hey, what are you doing?” Sirius asked outraged when he was shoved into a broom cupboard forcibly and quite unexpectedly.

“Shh,” Hestia said as she waved her wand to cast a Silencing Charm. She turned to him and pointing her wand at his face she said flatly:

“You don’t breathe a word about this to anyone, clear?”

Sirius nodded a little frightened and was shocked when she grabbed him and pushed him against the wall, kissing him fiercely.

“I thought-“ he started saying as he pushed her away a little.

“So yes, I might be physically attracted to you, but that is all and no one will know about our little encounters, clear?”

“What if I don’t want to be used like that? I’m feeling a little objectified here,” He said crossing his arms.

“Oh, do shut up,” she said and kissed him again.

“Okay,” Sirius gasped as he pulled her towards him.

Xxxx

Harry was fuming. How dare he? And the worst part was, Harry actually had to take him on the team as a reserve. And, oh, yes! He had to remember to thank Ron for the heads up. Yeah, thank him so much! Harry was so engrossed with his fuming he did not see where he was walking and bumped straight into someone.

“Where’s the fire?” came the familiar chuckle.

“Uncle Moony!” Harry cried. “What are you doing here?”

“I still live here during term Harry,” Remus reminded him.

Harry rolled his eyes, “I know, but I thought you’d spend Saturdays with Tonks.”

“She’s on duty,” he said slowly throwing an arm around Harry’s shoulders and walking with him through the halls. “Now, please enlighten me with what has you so preoccupied.”

“Oh, nothing,” Harry said vaguely.

“Nothing,” Remus repeated.

“We just had tryouts.”

“And…”

“Good team. And reserves too. Dean Thomas is a reserve.”

“Good for him,” Remus beamed.

“And he is dating Ginny. Yeah, they kissed each other congratulations and everything afterwards. Was quite disgusting,” Harry said. “All that mushiness.”

“Oh, yes. Mushiness,” Remus wisely agreed. “I thought she was dating a Ravenclaw.”

“Ron said they broke up last year after we won the Cup from them. Apparently he is a sore loser. Now he tells me,” Harry muttered.

“Must have slipped his mind; after all, why would you be interested in such gossip?”

“Because Ron is my best friend and this affects him and I am concerned for him!” Harry said outraged.

“Of course,” Remus agreed knowingly. “You know. I think that maybe, if you started spending more time with Ginny she might notice you.”

“Why would I want to do that?” Harry asked uncomfortably.

“Oh, so she can take you seriously when you are concerned about her because of Ron,” Remus said calmly. “I think you guys and Ginny drifted apart a little after you started Hogwarts, which is natural. She made friends in her own year and you in yours, but maybe you should rekindle that close friendship you had before. Who knows what might come out of that,” he winked and Harry wrinkled his forehead in thought. That was a good plan, and then maybe Ginny would notice how Dean Thomas was obviously out of her league and that Harry was a much more thoughtful and interesting person. And of course, Ron would be all for it since Harry was his best friend. Harry didn’t fancy getting the dirty looks Ron was throwing Dean.

Xxx

Remus entered the Marauder’s Quarters cautiously peering around. He had tried to ask Harry what exactly Sirius had bought at Wesley Wizarding Wheezes so he could gauge if Sirius had used all his assortment but Harry said with a straight face that he was Switzerland. I’ll give you Switzerland, more like Siriusland. Remus was getting quite annoyed of walking somewhere just to see people staring at him and find out later he had bright green and silver dots all over him.

He ran his wand around casting detection charms but found nothing out of the ordinary. Satisfied he picked up his book and sat down to read peacefully.

He was quite engrossed with his book when an out of breath and disheveled Sirius entered the room.

“What the hell happened to you?” Remus asked.

“What? Nothing,” Sirius said startled. He obviously hadn’t seen Remus there. “Why are you here?”

“Should I post a notice about still living here?” Remus asked blandly. “Dora is on duty today.”

“Oh, okay,” Sirius said absentmindedly as he walked dazedly to his room. Remus was staring to get worried.

“Padfoot? Are you okay? What happened?” he asked getting up and going after Sirius.

Sirius turned around and said a tad to quickly in a higher than usual voice, “Nothing. Nothing happened.”

“You are all rumpled,” Remus pointed to Sirius’ clothes.

Sirius looked down and tried to straighten his robes with his palms, “Oh, yeah- er- I was helping Hagrid- with er- a rebellious Threstal- yes, a very tetchy and uncontrolled mare. Gotta go take a shower. Bye Moony.” And with that Sirius ran so fast to his room and closed the door that Remus almost missed it. Oh, yes, Sirius was definitely up to something.

Xxx

“You’re back,” Severus said as he opened the door.

“Of course I am. We still have to finish the potion,” Emmeline said with twitching lips.

“Yes, well,” Severus said obviously flustered. “I was just using an expression. Like ‘Hello’, or ‘How are you doing’. We use them to start conversations.”

“Of course,” she said with a smirk. “So, shall we continue?” she asked pointing at the cauldrons.

“Yes,” Severus nodded and both promptly started working again. He did manage to insert some non-potions related conversation in their brewing and found out that she loved Italian food. He couldn’t explain exactly how he managed it, but by the time she left they had a date to eat at an Italian restaurant in London and Severus was very much looking forward to it.

Xxxx

“Potter Black!” Harry heard a voice call him in the corridor and turned around. His wand was instantly in his hand when he saw the owner of the voice.

“Yes,” he said tightly. Draco Malfoy walked calmly to him, showing he was clearly unarmed as he made a point of by raising his wandless hands.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“About?”

Malfoy got near him and sighed, “Look, I know I haven’t been the nicest guy towards you but I want to change. The time that I spent at home alone allowed me to think and I realized that I have been acting as if the world owed me everything and I owed no one anything. I want to apologize for what I did and start a new leaf,” he finished extending a hand towards Harry. Harry eyed that hand suspiciously and said simply.

“I don’t trust you.”

“I gave you plenty of reason not to,” Malfoy nodded.

“For reasons beyond your understanding, my father wants to give you a chance. And because of him and only him I will give you that chance. But muck this up Malfoy, hurt my father and you will pay for it. Do I make myself clear?” Harry said with a stony expression.

“Crystal,” Malfoy answered and Harry couldn’t decide if the expression Malfoy had was of sincerity or if he was planning something. Harry took the extended hand and shook it. He was going to give Malfoy a chance; he didn’t know why, but he was.

XXXX

“They were in a relationship Ron,” Neville said tiredly for the hundredth time. “Of course they kissed. But Ginny only said that to rile you up because you were annoying her!”

Ron glared at Neville from his bed. It was only the two of them and Harry in their dorm and had been since Harry and Ron had very uncomfortably stumbled upon Ginny and Dean Thomas snogging. Harry couldn’t get that horrible image out of his poor innocent mind.

Ginny had been annoyed at Ron and yelled at him that he only pestered her because he was the only one in the group to have never snogged, and threw in that even Hermione had snogged Victor Krum.

“You know Ron, if instead of fuming here you actually made a move like you have wanted to for the last- oh- two years at least, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.” Neville said.

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Ron mumbled.

“I am talking about you and Hermione. You obviously fancy her and she fancies you. You can see it by the longing looks she gives you. But she won’t do anything until you grow up, or at least tell her how you feel. And fuming like that is not very grown up.”

“You think so?” Ron preened up a little.

“I know so. Ron, you’re my mate, so I say this not to criticize but to help. You are hot headed and if you don’t stop letting your temper get the best of you you’ll end up doing something stupid and losing Hermione. So, take some advice. Start calming down and paying attention to the girl.”

“Easy for you to talk, you have a girlfriend and apparently can do no wrong,” Ron mumbled.

Neville burst out laughing, “You think me and Hannah don’t fight? We do loads of times! We’re both growing up. I’m lucky to have found someone who complements with me so well, and so young, but believe me: it’s not easy at all. But nothing worth keeping is.”

Harry’s attention picked up at this and he started thinking that maybe, maybe, something worth keeping was worth overcoming the obstacles, mainly Dean Thomas!

Xxx

Time sped up as it is prone to. Hours became days, days became weeks and weeks became months and before Harry noticed Christmas had come and gone and he was no where near to reaching his goal. Even Ron and Uncle Sev, blunt, insensitive Ron and grouchy, snappy Uncle Sev had managed to get girlfriends.

After heeding Neville’s advice Ron started to stop and think before he snapped and bickered with Hermione. He even started noticing her needs and brought her snacks when she was studying or refilling her parchment stack when it was low. This, of course did not go unnoticed and resulted in Hermione asking Ron out on a date one Hogsmeade weekend and now they had been a happy couple since Halloween.

Then there was Severus; he had tried to keep it secret but a student’s mother had spotted him and Emmeline out on a date in London and told her daughter who told a friend, and well, we all know how that goes. Severus Snape’s image was almost ruined once people found out the not-so-greasy any more bat of the dungeons was dating a living, breathing human being. Of course, when an unaware innocent student stumbled upon said girlfriend accidentally and she sneered and commented on his clumsiness in the best impression of Severus Snape, people understood why he was dating her; he found his female version and must be in little bat heaven.

Harry didn’t know how to feel about his Uncle dating. He had nothing against Emmeline, she was like Severus alright, exactly like him. Her snappiness and sarcasm was a defense like his and if you were patient you got to know a very kind woman. But she was an outsider, and yes he said they needed to find a lady friend for Severus, but with the fact in front of him, Harry was feeling a tad threatened. At least he could count on his father in his steady bachelorhood. You could count on the fact that Sirius could go out and meet a hundred of women and not bringing a single one into their tidy little world.

But, as Harry pondered other people’s love life he came to the same fact, Ginny Weasley and Dean Thomas were still dating, and for all of Harry’s rekindled friendship with Ginny he had gotten nowhere. Yes, he had started to interact more with Ginny, especially since he found himself left on his own by his three dating friends more often than not. But she was still with Dean, and Dean was always there when they were together. Dean wasn’t a bad bloke and Harry actually liked him and felt bad for wanting him to be dumped, but alas, thus is life and love.

Harry needed drastic measures, he needed an expert; he needed his dad. He decided to visit him on this nice Saturday morning and walked towards the Marauder’s Quarters. He crossed paths with Malfoy and as had become habit in the past months Malfoy politely greeted him. Harry still felt unsure but he had to grant it to Malfoy: he had exemplar behavior and had tried to make amends, he even apologized to Hermione, Neville and Ron! A few weeks back he asked if he could join the D.A. and after much deliberation and vouching of the Slytherins members that Malfoy had been behaving the same way in the privacy of their dorms, they had accepted.

Giving out the password, Harry entered the Marauders Quarters to find Sirius brooding on the couch.

“What’s up dad?” he asked flopping down.

“Nothing,” Sirius mumbled and shook his head as if to clear something away. “What brings you here son?” he asked in a bright tone as if he had never had a frown in his face. Harry himself frowned but answered:

“I need advice.”

“And of course you came to the wisest person around,” Sirius said extending his arms.

“Nah, Grandpa and Uncle Moony were busy so I came to you,” Harry said with a straight face and Sirius shoved him a little.

“Ha, ha, very funny.”

“So dad. I have a problem.”

“Which is?”

“Dean Thomas.”

Sirius stared at Harry and frowned, “I thought you and Dean were friends. He never was a problematic student. Is friendly to everyone. Did you get into a fight?”

“No!” Harry moaned. “That’s the worst part! He’s a great guy. If he was a git this would be much easier.”

Thoroughly confused, Sirius asked, “What would that be?”

“Breaking him and Ginny up!”

Sirius raised his eyebrows in surprise, well to be honest he wasn’t that surprised, but he wasn’t about to let his little baby know he had realized Harry had developed a little crush and done nothing to stop it. Especially since he hadn’t been worried because Ginny was involved with someone else. But this changed matters. Sirius sighed and threw an arm around Harry.

“Let’s face it Harry. You’re just going to have to give it up as a bad job,” he finished shrugging. Harry’s mouth dropped and he stuttered:

“What?”

“It’s too complicated. Dean is your friend and you don’t want to ruin a friendship over a girl do you? And you know, they’re probably getting married and having little Thomases. You can’t get in the way of destiny.”

“DAD! I came here for strategy on how to get them apart not a lecture in giving up! Would you give up on a girl just because it’s complicated?”

“Well, er- we’re not talking about me and H- anyone. We’re talking about you Harry James and you’re young, why tie yourself up? Enjoy life!”

Harry groaned, he honestly should have known better than to ask relationship advice from his dad. Yes he was a player and had immense experience with the opposite sex but he was also his dad, the man who didn’t want Harry in a relationship before he was two hundred.

“Do you know if Uncle Moony is getting home soon?” Harry asked hopefully.

Sirius eyed Harry suspiciously, “He went out with Tonks to see something about the wedding. Why?”

“Oh, nothing. Nothing at all,” he’d try his Grandpa then. Not that he was all that hopeful considering the last dating advice Dumbledore gave him. “So dad? What had you brooding?”

“I wasn’t brooding.”

“Yes you were.”

“No I wasn’t.”

“Yes you were.”

“No I wasn’t.”

“Yes you were.”

“No I wasn’t.”

That went on for a while until Harry gave up on finding out why Sirius Black had been in a mood to match his last name when he entered the Marauder’s Quarters.