"Harper!"

"Earth to Harper Slughorn..."

"Is she okay?"

Giving a strange look over to Lily, James, sitting across from the girl who couldn't seem to keep her focus, dangled his fingers in front of her face in an attempt to wake her from this "trance" she was experiencing at the Gryffindor dinner table. It didn't work.

But she had once again, fallen into the pit of Peter and Emma and what happened in the Room of Requirement last week. Already, five days had passed. But Hermione's memory of it made it seem as if it occurred less than an hour ago. It played in her mind like a fresh, raw wound, as opposed to the fading bruise that it had truly become.

Though a simple touch on her back by the boy she couldn't seem to get out of her head brought her back to reality, the thought of what Peter had done simmered in her thoughts. Every time she looked at him she wanted to punch him. She wanted to--

"Everything okay, Harper?" whispered Sirius into Hermione's ear, his hand still placed softly on her back. As she tensed up, so did he. Quickly, his hand returned to his fork.

"I'm okay. Just tired," Hermione replied.

The rest of dinner was long and painful for Hermione, already so stressed out of her mind. She didn't expect that something as simple as Sirius touching her back for a brief moment would cause her heart to race, to make her forget about what Peter had done to Emma for a short while. But it did.

Hermione planned to have another weeknight that consisted of finishing up her last few assignments for her classes before studying for her final exams next week. Maybe she would browse Peter's notebook with a fresh set of eyes, or flip through Vanity's book again to see if she missed anything. Maybe she would spend some time with her friends, seeing as her classes didn't really matter here.

Wow. If 1996-Hermione knew that that thought had crossed 1977-Hermione's mind, she would go ballistic.

For the past few weeks, Hermione had been trying to distract herself from what she finally admitted to herself as feelings for Sirius, but now, it seemed as if she were trying to distract herself from what she saw Peter do to Emma. She couldn't get it out of her mind. And spending time with Sirius and the rest of her friends (not including Peter, of course) seemed to be the only solution to clearing her mind.

It was a role reversal, if you will, of the thoughts that occupied her mind. Maybe she would have another chat with James to get some clarity.

An hour or two after they had arrived back at the dorms after dinner, Hermione had gotten most of her work done independently. The others were studying down in the secret room they found at the start of the term where they held Marlene's birthday party a few weeks ago, and Hermione figured that she would join them now that her "more important" work was out of the way. All except James were present in the secret room, but it wouldn't be long before he would return.

"I have the most epic news, everyone," announced James as he strutted through the magically concealed opening to the secret room and practically danced upon the large area rug. He was holding a sheet of paper that appeared to be a letter, and his eyes were brighter than ever.

"I just got back from the Owlery and got a letter from my parents!" he squealed, while the rest of the room remained both silent and confused, eager to hear about why this letter made James so excited in the first place.

"And what's it say, Prongs?" questioned Remus, peaking over James' shoulder.

"You're all cordially invited to a holly jolly Christmas at the Potter household!"

A smile began to rise to Hermione's face. She had totally forgotten about what she would do over the holiday break. And it's not like she had a family to return home to. This was absolutely perfect.

"As if I need an invitation!" Sirius joked while Remus and Lily thanked James for his gracious offering and accepted their invitations.

Peter looked down at the ground, as if he were hiding something, and proceeded to sigh in James' direction.

"Prongs, I don't think I can make it this year," he sighed repeatedly. Hermione could smell his insincerity from a mile away.

"Why not?" Lily questioned.

"Emma's invited me to her home for the holidays. And I've told her yes."

"You know she's always welcome to tag along with us, Pete."

"It's just, she's so excited for me to meet them, to introduce me to her family. I couldn't say no even if I wanted to."

"Yeah, I totally get it Wormtail. I mean, Lily's--"

The ginger tugged on his robes and flashed him a face that read, "shut it."

Hermione looked right at Sirius, who had his something-is-up-and-I'm-going-to-figure-it-out face on. "Lily's... what? Prongs?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Prongs..?" Sirius smirked.

With cheeks as red as roses, James and Lily looked at each other nervously, then back at the rest of the eager teenagers in the room, and then back at each other.

Lily broke the silence. "We're together, alright. Stop fussing about it, I'm sure over half of you have had it figured out already. Especially you, Remus," she said, pointing at him as he was smiling, "I knew you'd be the one to let it slip," she laughed at James.

"Hey!" he gasped in response.

Meanwhile, Sirius stared as if he had just found out the meaning of life, and proceeded to run over to the happy couple with his arms around each of them. "My best friends, so happy!" he exclaimed and he aggressively hugged the both of them, keeping his partially sarcastic attitude intact.

"I see my advice worked," added Hermione, arms crossed.

James chuckled. "It sure did," he said.

"What advice?" questioned Lily.

Hermione snicked as she spoke, "I was basically James' wing-man, knocking some sense into him so that you would notice how awesome he is."

"Epic," added Sirius.

"Yes," she laughed, "how epic he is."

In the midst of this incredibly awkward discovery, Remus blurted out, "so, when do we leave for your house, Prongs?"

"Probably Friday afternoon, after--"

"Our Astronomy final," interrupted Sirius.

"Yeah," added Hermione.

The rest of the night faded away just like the others, and Sirius spent most of it thinking about how James had succeeded with Lily. And how he wanted the same with Harper. Sirius had never really seen himself as the relationship type, but then again, did anyone really see James as the relationship type either?

He wanted Harper to be a bigger part of his life and wanted to be a bigger part of her's. He wanted to be the first person that she goes to when she gets good news or bad news. He wanted her to feel safe with him. He wanted to know how she had grown into the person she is today and what made her good.

He also may have wanted to snog her. But that was beside the point.

Was that too much to ask?

Later in the night, while Peter was with Emma and Remus had practically locked himself in the library, Sirius went to James and practically spilled his guts to him. He told him everything that he hadn't already about his feelings for Harper. Not that he intended to, of course (he kept himself guarded most of the time), but one more word, phrase, sentence, paragraph led to another and began to spew out of his mouth like vomit.

"Well, I see why you've been stressed about this," James said, like a shrink to their very own patient. "I would be stressed too, and I was, I mean, with Lily."

"Yeah," Sirius sighed, and James was silent for a while. Sirius felt so open, so exposed in this moment, even though it was his best friend straing back at him. And quite honestly, he had no idea what he even wanted to hear from James in return. After all, what could he say?

James, meanwhile, was metaphorically punching himself in the gut over how exactly to deal with this situation. Of course, he wanted to tell Sirius that Harper was feeling the exact same way, but that wouldn't be fair to her. She trusted him, and James Potter was not one to break one of his best friends' trust. So, he left a mere bread crumb for Sirius. After all, he couldn't betray the feelings of another one of his best friends.

"I mean, it's not like she said anything to me about it," James gulped, "but I wouldn't be surprised if she felt the same as you."

"Really?" Sirius said, a brief glow lighting up his eyes in the process.

"Yeah, I mean I know neither of us are all that great at reading signals when it comes to girls and feelings and all that stuff, but you never know. She's probably stressed out right now over final exams and everything, but once that's all over, school won't be on her mind. And where is she going to be after exams are over?"

"Your house."

"And where are you going to be?"

"Your house."

"Do you see what I'm getting at here, Padfoot?"

"I'm not that clueless, Prongs!"

"Just checking," James laughed. "It wouldn't be a bad idea to spend some extra time with her over the holidays, preferably alone," he said.

"I'm not trying to get my hopes up, but with Pete joining us, poor Remus very well might end up being a fifth wheel," Sirius chuckled.

The two boys laughed for a while, momentarity forgetting the stress of finals, and for Sirius specifically, the stress of dealing with his feelings and thinking about how he may act on them for the first time. He went to bed that night nervous, yet excited. Excited for what could possibly come.

Surprisingly, exam week flew by as fast as the Golden Snitch. To no one's surprise, Hermione is a brilliant test taker and though she certainly stressed about them a fair amount, she passed all of her classes with flying colors.

Well, maybe not Astronomy. She and Sirius may have reviewed the material for hours, but the exam left Hermione uneasy. She crossed her fingers that she didn't let her stubbornness get to her during the exam, but comparing answers with Sirius after the exam eased her a tad.

Still, however, her mind remained cluttered as to what her next step would be.

What would she do with the diadem? How was she going to stop Peter from continuously abusing Emma? Was he planning something sinister on this holiday trip to the Vanity home?

These questions did laps around Hermione's head as she and Lily finished packing for the trip to the Potter Family's home. Quickly, they filled their luggage and met the three other boys in the Gryffindor common room. All finals had been taken, all courses were finished, and at a moment's notice, they would be having the holiday of their lives at the Potter's house.

James led his four guests and their luggage both out of the Gryffindor common room and out of the castle, making his way down to the station where the Hogwarts drops off students. Except, the train wasn't there.

"Where is it?" Hermione asked.

"Where's what?" Lily responded.

"The train. The Hogwarts Express. We are taking it, aren't we?" she questioned.

"Oh, no, that's not how we're getting home," James added, "I just like to leave from here because it's easier and off castle grounds."

"Wait, how are we getting to your house, James?"

"Why, we'll apparate, of course! My house is hundreds of miles away, and I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to be home for our first family dinner in a long while," James spoke, clearly eager to see both his parents and his home again.

"Sirius, Remus, and Lily, you've all been there before so apparating there won't be a problem, but Harper, since you've never been to Potter Manor before, you'll just have to hold one of our hands and apparate with us."

Standing next to her already, Sirius held out his hand to Harper, who nervously grabbed hold of it. To Hermione, he was warm and welcoming. To Sirius, she was hesitant yet comfortable. Their simple hand-holding quickly shifted, as Sirius began to interlock his fingers with hers.

"So we don't get separated. Just in case," he softly smiled.

"Perfect," James said, trying to contain his wing-man excitement. Closing his eyes and with his luggage in one hand and his wand in the other, he joked, "see you on the other side."

James disapparated from Hogwarts first, leaving the school with a swift flash and a warping of the air particles around him. Lily, followed by Remus, disapparated from the train station. They left Sirius and Harper all alone.

He turned over to her, his fingers still interlocked with her own, and looked at her with his big grey eyes. He reminded himself of what James had said the other day, about her likely being less stressed after all of her finals were done. How the holiday break would be the perfect time to put his feelings into action. There, he gazed upon her. It was just the two of them; no one was watching.

Sirius wanted so badly to lift Harper up and bring his lips to hers, but something stopped him. He didn't know why, was he just nervous again? Never before had he gotten this shaken up over a girl who hadn't even rejected him yet. But maybe another time soon he would tell her how he feels. He needed to plan it out, it couldn't be spontaneous like this.

"Are you ready?" he said, his voice nearly breaking from nervousness. She nodded.

Together the two apparated away from Hogwarts, and within seconds, Hermione was standing before one of the most beautiful houses she's ever seen. Pillars were evident all across the front of the house, and it was large enough for there to be several wings. A beautiful fountain, not currently in use due to the weather, was the cherry on top in the center of the front yard. James, Remus, and Lily could be seen walking ahead of them, to be soon greeted by the friendly-faced Mr. and Mrs. Potter on the front porch of their home.

Rather hastily, Hermione let go of Sirius' hand to get a better hold of her luggage. It was a decision she almost immediately regretted doing. Walking towards the house, it was hard for her to take it all in because, little did Sirius know, the exact same thoughts as his were running through her head.

Should I have let him know how I really feel? Should I have been the one to turn the number of girls he's kissed from eight to nine just before? Why didn't I?

Quite frankly, Hermione didn't know why she didn't just act on her feelings like she's been wanting to. Sirius didn't know why either. But it was only a matter of time before one of them started to crack.

A/N UPDATE (5/28/22): extra long chapter today! i just couldn't stop writing!! i kinda made james the main character in this chapter today and i kinda love it, he's awesome and i also love that he's the wingman for BOTH hermione and sirius it's so funny.

also, readers, PLEASE COMMENT PREDICTIONS! I AM SO CURIOUS!!! and you're gonna be very shocked with how this story ends. very shocked. (don't worry, it's not coming to an end soon, i just have the rest of it planned out already)

anyway, i really hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and i would really appreciate votes or any comments that you might have.

- callahan