They Shook Hands: Year Four (Original Version)

They Shook Hands : Year Four

An alternate (but realistic!) universe Harry Potter fic
by Dethryl

Chapter Three - Lessons

The second floor took two full days of hard work to clean completely. Tim skipped out on both, and only Pansy, Draco, and Jenna came on the second. Harry and Sirius stayed up late, convincing each other that all they had to do was one little bit more and they could call it a night. Their efforts paid off, and they went to sleep with a supreme sense of satisfaction.

On the third floor, they discovered a ghoul living in the other bathroom. Unlike most ghouls, this one was a bloodthirsty howler, and Sirius decreed that it would have to go. He and Remus contained it for eventual delivery to the Ghoul Task Force. Later, Harry, Draco, Pansy, and Jenna tackled the lavish bedrooms with the help of the elves.

At last there was only the master bedroom and bath, and Sirius, Remus, Harry, and Kreacher did the deed in a long Saturday. When the last sack of rubbish had been levitated out of the room, the wizards looked at each other in satisfaction and smiled.

"Well, that's that," Harry said happily. "Time for Animagus lessons."

Sirius and Remus both laughed at him. "No, he's not eager," Remus chuckled.

"We were pretty impatient ourselves, as I recall," Sirius grinned. "Led to lots of bad situations. But it's late, Harry. Tomorrow is Sunday, so let's have a day of rest, and Monday after breakfast, we'll have your first lesson."

Finally! Harry didn't know if he could stand to wait that long, but Sirius was the instructor. It wouldn't do to push too hard. So he nodded in agreement.

"Okay," he said.

Sunday tested the limits of Harry's patience. He raided the library, looking for advanced transfiguration books, and then he had to find books to explain what the advanced books said. He took pages of complicated notes, not sure about half the things he was dutifully copying. There wasn't a single guide book, How to Become an Animagus, but studying the most complex Transfiguration available would surely help. Though it would probably help more if it didn't read like a foreign language.

When he could bear it no longer, he channelled his nervous energy into lifting weights. Harry was pleased to see that his arms were getting bigger. He took a break every so often to flex in front of the mirror. Growing up with the Muggles, he'd never imagined that one day he might be strong. It was an amazing feeling.

Kreacher made a large breakfast on Monday morning, and Sirius took his own sweet time about eating it. Harry gobbled down two large helpings of eggs, sausage, bacon, and oatmeal and sat waiting impatiently for Sirius to finish. He drank glass after glass of orange juice just to keep his mouth busy so he wouldn't nag.

Sirius finally pushed his plate back, and Harry leapt to his feet in anticipation. Sirius chuckled good-naturedly and stood up as well.

"Ready?"

"Am I ever!"

Harry followed Sirius to the duelling room on the second floor. Sirius kicked off his shoes and began to perform stretching exercises. Harry did likewise.

"It's good that you've been lifting weights," Sirius said approvingly. "If you weren't, I'd have you start. The Animagus transformation is physically demanding, and the better condition you're in, the easier it will be for you. Once you've mastered it, you can change even in a weakened state. If not, I'd still be in Azkaban. Let's not think about that."

"Let's."

"Now, let's discuss your accidental magic. What sorts of tricks did you do while growing up? Those sorts of things give us insight into the feats of magic a wizard will eventually be able to perform."

"I was running from Dudley's gang once and wound up on a roof."

Sirius' grin was manic. "That's excellent! That shows you've got natural Apparition talent. What else? Did you ever change your body in any way?"

"Yes. You know how my hair looks like my dad's?"

"Of course."

"It's not by choice. It just stays this way all the time. Whenever I'd go for a haircut, it would instantly grow back."

"That's exactly what I mean," Sirius crowed. "Bodily change is a strong indicator of Transfiguration talent. Okay, here's the plan. We're going to concentrate on growing your hair. When you can make it longer with just a thought, we'll move on to other body parts. I want you to think about your scalp."

"My scalp?"

"Yes. Imagine thousands and thousands of tiny dots where your hair is coming out and envision your hair getting longer. Then focus your will and do it."

Talk about vague instructions. Nevertheless, Harry closed his eyes and tried to imagine the roots of his hair. He'd seen several Muggle commercials for baldness cures, so he knew what to think about.

"Now think about your hair growing, getting longer. It's flowing out of your head a hundred times faster than normal. Then tap into your magic, just like casting a spell."

Harry did that, and a sudden tickle ran across his scalp. It felt almost like static. He was so surprised, he lost focus. He tried again, and the same tickle came back. This time he held onto it and imagined hair reaching down to his shoulders. The tingle became stronger, and with a sudden cry of surprise, suddenly there was hair covering his eyes.

"Well done, Harry!" Sirius shouted. "That's how you do it!"

Harry pushed his new hair aside and grinned at his godfather without saying a word.

* * *

Harry didn't recognize the owl that delivered the letter. It was a huge snowy owl with very strong talons that left gouges in the back of the chair it perched on. Harry immediately scooped up some bacon and held it out in offering. The owl sprang into the air, soared across the table, snatched up the bacon, and dropped the envelope in Harry's lap as it flapped its wings and made for the open window.

He didn't recognize the handwriting on the letter either. Nobody he knew dotted their i's with tiny circles or made their a's with fancy arches. If was definitely from a girl, though. The ink was purple.

~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~

Harry swore softly at himself. With all of his time being taken up with Animagus lessons with Sirius, he had completely forgotten to make inquiries at the Department of Magical Games and Sports about tickets to the World Cup. Then he perked up with a cheerful thought; now he didn't have to play on his fame! He could spring the surprise on Sirius, too.

"Hey Sirius, I guess you were right."

"Of course I was. What was I right about?"

"When you picked me up at the train platform, you said Susan Bones fancied me. She just sent me a letter. She and Hannah Abbot have been lounging around the pool all summer just listening to the wireless."

"Sounds delightful."

"And Susan says that Hannah said to invite me over."

"Well, that's awfully nice of her," Sirius judged. "Do you want to go?"

"I don't know," Harry admitted. "I don't really know her. She's in Hufflepuff. We share History of Magic, and she's in Arithmancy too."

"Nice girl?"

"I guess."

"Well, why not use this as a chance to get to know her?" posed Sirius in a very reasonable tone. "And if you don't like her, maybe her friend Hannah is more your type. Harry and Hannah has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

"Sirius!" Harry's ears were burning now.

His godfather laughed merrily. "So two Hufflepuff girls are inviting you to go swimming with them. You dog, Harry."

"Sirius! Come on, knock it off," Harry protested. "I'm just going to make friends. It's not like that."

"Is it?" Sirius asked sceptically. "Who else did she invite?"

"Well, she didn't say."

Sirius grinned knowingly. "One or both of them is going to try to snog you."

"How do you know?"

"Because, Harry, I know girls. They've got this all planned out. Tomorrow is supposed to be a very nice day, so they'll be tanning in the sun. They'll be putting suntan lotion on and will need help getting their backs. It's a scenario straight out of one of those magazines for young witches."

"I'm being set up?" Harry asked incredulously. "By Hufflepuffs?"

"Not by Hufflepuffs, Harry. By girls. It's nothing to do with house at all."

"So what do I do?" he asked helplessly.

"You go along with it!" Sirius said with delight. "You have fun! You swap a few kisses and share a few giggles and enjoy yourself. It's quite the time, let me tell you."

"I've kissed a girl before."

"So you have. And was it so awful you don't want to do it again? Because the only other choice is to start looking at your mates a whole new way."

"It's not that it was bad, but I don't know if I want to date Blaise."

"You're young, Harry. Don't make up your mind yet. There's plenty of time to find out who the right girl is."

That made Harry feel better. It was true. He didn't need to put any pressure on himself to find his one true love. He and Blaise didn't have to decide right now if they were going to spend the next ninety or so years (for magic folk lived longer than Muggles) together. That was way too big a decision for a thirteen-year-old to make. It was nearly too big for a thirteen-year-old to even understand. All things would happen in due time. In the meanwhile, he would make friends with two Hufflepuffs. After breakfast, he went to his room, pulled out a sheet of parchment, and wrote a reply as neatly as his excitement would allow.

He sent off Regal with the letter and plugged a Wand Smasher music crystal into the wireless before stretching out on his bed with the journal he'd started to keep of his progress at becoming an Animagus. He recorded things that had helped, things that hadn't worked, and the best way to get rid of the aches and pains that invariably accompanied the vicissitude he was subjecting his body to. It would be worth it, though.

~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~

Harry had just finished reading when a different owl delivered a letter. It flew off before Harry could identify it, but he recognized the handwriting: Blaise.

A lump formed in his throat then. It was part guilt at not returning what he plainly knew were Blaise's feelings and part anxiousness at what she might have written. With trepidation, Harry unfolded the parchment.

~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~

Girls! Why did they have to be so complicated?

Harry folded the parchment back up and shoved it into a drawer of his desk. He would write back to Blaise later, but now it was time to meet the lads for their workout. It wasn't smart to lift by yourself, so Harry got together with Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle several days a week for the sole purposes of building up muscles. Already he had turned up the density of the wizard weights by two points. He picked up his bag, said goodbye to Sirius, and headed through the Floo to Malfoy Manor.

The topic of discussion during these sessions invariably came back to girls. Draco was always parroting advice he'd gotten from his older brother, Elan, about how to act around them. It wasn't important to actually be cool, just to appear cool, and girls were impressed by the silliest things.

Draco's hair had gotten longer. He claimed girls liked that. He'd started combing it off to one side, too. Harry knew he'd always gone to an effort to make himself neat and tidy, to the point of carrying a comb in his pocket at all time. It had gotten much worse. Now he would spend ridiculous lengths of time studying himself in the mirror. The Encouraging Spell had finally given up on him and would only speak to the other lads.

Goyle eventually stopped looking like a zombie and started talking again. He grew another two inches practically overnight. Crabbe didn't gain so much height, but he stood a bit stockier. Both continued to be eating machines.

Tim still considered lifting weights to be vulgar, and the lads' repeated invitations to join them went unanswered. To speak of it, Tim hadn't visited that often. He'd only pitched in with the cleaning of 12 Grimmauld Place for a couple of days. Even when he did grace them all with his presence, he said little, and he got shirty with anyone who pressed him. Draco said that Elan had attributed the moodiness to the onset of puberty and to pay Tim no mind. So Tim missed out on the very interesting conversations that went on between the boys.

"So I've had a letter from Blaise," Harry said. "She invited me over to her house tomorrow to go koi fishing."

"I thought you two broke up?" Draco asked.

"We did."

"That sounds an awful lot like a date."

"I know. What do I do?" Harry asked helplessly. "She's my friend, and I like her a lot, but I don't want to date her."

"You need a girlfriend," Draco said sagely. "If Blaise sees you with another girl, she'll stop trying to get you."

"Will that work?"

"Sure it will." Draco sounded supremely confident.

"Well, I'll see what I can do in that regard. I'm going swimming with Bones and Abbott from Hufflepuff."

"Well done, Harry," Draco congratulated him. "Which one do you think you'll go for?"

"I'll decide that after I see them in swimsuits. I'm just going to make friends."

"If you insist."

"Won't Blaise seeing Harry talking to other girls make her try harder?" Crabbe asked.

Harry hadn't thought of that. "Blaise is pretty competitive," he said, putting down his weights to wipe his face with a towel. "Do you think she'd see it as a contest?"

"She's a Slytherin," Draco said, as if it were obvious.

Harry groaned. "So if I don't have a girlfriend, Blaise tries to get me, and if I do, she tries harder? I can't win!"

"Girls are strange like that, Harry," Draco replied with a knowing sort of air.

"I'm glad you're taking such enjoyment from this," Harry groused.

"So honestly, which one? Bones or Abbott? Bones is taller, I think, but Abbott is probably curvier."

"Like you'd know. Yeah, they're both pretty, but the Patil twins are gorgeous."

"They've got good skin, sure," Draco replied, "but Pansy's eyes sparkle more."

"Okay, granted. Best hair?"

"Pansy."

"Best lips," Goyle said.

"Pansy."

"Best nose?"

"Pansy."

"You've said Pansy to everything," Harry groaned with exasperation. "And come on, Pansy's got quite a honker."

"I think Pansy's the best. Why would I, Draco Malfoy, date any girl with less than the best?"

"You, Draco Malfoy, are unimaginative," Crabbe interjected. "Best lips in fourth year is definitely Lavender Brown."

"You, Crabbe, are blind," Goyle grunted. "Don't let the make-up fool you. Now Mandy Brocklehurst, she's got nice lips, nice eyes, nice hair, and a nice voice."

"Sounds like you like her, Goyle," Draco drawled. "She's a pureblood. Pretty enough for a snog. Write her a letter or something."

"And say what?"

"Ask her how her summer's going."

"And then?"

"Ask if she's gone travelling. Think up exciting things to do and ask her if she's done them."

"Koi fishing? Isn't that what Blaise wanted to do, Harry?"

"If you regard that as fun, then certainly." Draco put down his weights and took a drink of water.

"But all we've done is help clean Grimmauld Place and work out all summer."

"We've listened to plenty of music," Harry said. "You can tell her about that."

"This Wand Smasher is fantastic stuff," Crabbe piped up. "I really get into another world when I'm lifting."

"So it's not just me?" Goyle asked.

"Evidently not, fathead," Draco grunted. He stretched out his arm, trying to ease the soreness.

"You're the fathead," Goyle shot back. "I hear you have to use magic to get through doors now?"

"Untrue!"

~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~

Harry would be the first to admit he didn't understand girls. They were complicated beyond his ken at times, for reasons only God knew. But if there was one thing he did know, it was that he shouldn't tell Blaise that he couldn't go koi fishing with her because he was going swimming with two blonde Hufflepuff girls. It was really none of her business, after all, and his letter contained no factual errors. It was simply misleading.

Shortly before nine the next morning, Harry collected his bag, tossed a pinch of Floo powder in the fireplace, and went spinning through the Network to 42 Iceberg Chalice. He landed heavily on his feet in front of a very nice stone fireplace. A note was hovering in the air, addressed to him, with directions out to the pool.

The girls were lounging at poolside, listening to a music crystal via the wireless. The sun was just high enough in the sky to start casting its warming rays into the clear water. A pitcher of lemonade and three glasses of ice cubes rested on a wrought-iron, glass-top table.

Harry could not have been more nervous as he sauntered casually out the sliding glass door and onto the concrete patio. He wished fiercely that he had one of the lads along for support, but they hadn't been invited. He kept right on walking, even when he saw blonde hair and tan skin.

Susan was wearing her strawberry-blonde hair down, with locks of it spilling over her shoulders. Harry had never seen her without the tight plait she always wore at school. She was wearing a bright yellow one-piece with a pattern of black stars scattered across the chest. Those stars jutted out prominently, and Harry wished he'd thought to charm his glasses to shades. Wow, she was pretty.

Hannah's black one-piece with yellow stars was equally stare-inducing. She was shorter than Susan, though, so her attributes seemed greater. Draco's prediction that she was the curvier of the pair was proven true. Harry noticed she had dimples on her knees. Her pale blonde hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and it bobbed and danced as she talked.

Their yellow and black motif made Harry grin. Those were Hufflepuff's colours. Now he didn't feel so silly about his green and silver swim trunks.

"Hi, Harry," they said together with a wave.

"Hi." He walked over and sat down in one of the pool chairs, hunching forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

For no reason, the two girls giggled. "Very much," Susan replied.

"Glad you could make it."

"Thanks for inviting me," Harry said politely. "Is that the latest from Wand Smasher?"

"Yes. Susan tells me that you know them," Hannah said inquisitively. "I heard those stories going around school last year, but I didn't know how much truth there was to them."

"Tim, Millie, and I went to see a show last summer. The lead singer saw my scar and started calling me their biggest fan and dedicated a song to me. At intermission, I went over to say hello. Nothing more to it."

"Wow," Hannah exclaimed. "That's so galactic."

"Then at Christmas I went to see them again. I got to hang out backstage with them. One of the guitar players used to be in Slytherin, you know."

"I didn't know that," Susan said.

"I'd love to get their autographs and take pictures," Hannah said wistfully. "Edgar is so handsome."

"It could happen," Harry said invitingly. "What's in it for me?"

"Are you kidding?" Hannah asked. "Of course not. You're a Slytherin. You don't have a sense of humour."

"Our sense of humour is just refined, that's all," Harry said, sticking up for his house. "You asked me for a favour. What's it worth to you?"

"I'd offer to do your History homework, but you do much better than me," said Hannah. "I give up."

"Give up?" Susan interjected. "Hufflepuffs never give up!"

"In that case I concede."

"Hannah!"

"What?"

Susan shook her head. "You're impossible."

"I try. Harry, take your robes off and stay awhile." Then both girls started giggling together.

Harry did his best not to read into that remark. He shrugged out of his robes (for he'd worn his swim trunks underneath) and stretched out in a chair, facing the girls.

"So, Harry," Susan said, "How is life at Grimmauld Place?"

Harry grinned. "Now that it's clean, it's quite nice. It's gigantic; I mean lots of rooms. My room is really big. I don't know if I'll ever have enough stuff to fill it up."

"Stuff has a way of expanding to fit the size of its space," Susan replied. "And then it just keeps right on growing. I can never manage to get all my stuff packed into my school trunk at the end of the year."

"Mine barely fit," Harry said.

"Bah!" Hannah said crossly. "If I hadn't asked Diggory to show me a Shrinking Charm, I'd have missed the Express."

"Cedric Diggory?"

Hannah seemed a bit surprised that Harry knew the first name of a Hufflepuff soon-to-be seventh year student, but then understanding blossomed on her face. "Ah, right, you would know him from Quidditch." Diggory was the Seeker on Hufflepuff's house Quidditch team, and he and Harry had clashed on several occasions.

"He's not bad," Harry said dismissively.

"He's a bit more than 'not bad', Potter," Hannah replied, sounding a tad offended. "I heard him telling Roberto Aronstein that he's been approached by people from Puddlemere. They want him to come to training camp after he finishes Hogwarts. He caught their eye after the match a couple of years ago when he made that amazing Wronski Feint. He's done some very nice flying since then, and they've been watching him."

Harry's smile faded a bit. That feint had been pulled on Harry, and his Nimbus 2000 had been heavily damaged by his near-impact with the ground. He wondered if he should point out the fact to the gossipy girl, but before he could open his mouth, Susan elbowed her friend in the side.

"OW!"

"Brainless wonder! In your vast sum of who said what to who and when, did anyone remind you that Cedric did that to Harry? Manners, girl!" Susan threw Harry an apologetic look.

Hannah, to her credit, had the grace to blush. "Oh, right. Sorry. Anyway, while they're not ready to sign Cedric up right now, they think he's got definite potential."

"Okay, so he's pretty good," Harry admitted. "I know that. I've flown against him. I've also beaten him to the Snitch twice. After that Feint, by the way. Might I add that Slytherin has held the Quidditch Cup for ten years now?" He might not have rubbed Hannah's nose in it so thoroughly had she not brought up the Slytherin-Hufflepuff match from second year.

Hannah blushed even more. "If they're being talked to, can you imagine who's looking at you? I never said you weren't completely galactic as a Seeker, Harry, just that Cedric is, well-"

"Not bad," Harry supplied with a wink.

She giggled. "Comparatively, yes. And he's not the only one. Lavender Brown told me that she heard Katie Bell talking about how their captain, Wood, has too."

Harry had read in the sport pages that Puddlemere United had been sold to a new owner who promised to invest the money to attract the talent the team needed to get back on top. Evidently, that meant farming the crop of Quidditch players at Hogwarts to find the up-and-comers.

"Montrose will still show them how to fly," Harry replied. "Ellison is just plain phenomenal."

Hannah giggled. "I've got a poster of Ellison hanging over my bed at school. He's so cute, with those pretty eyes. I could just melt away."

Harry didn't know why he could possibly have needed to know that.

"Don't mind her, Harry," Susan said with a wave of her hand. "She's just gone boy-crazy."

"Have not!"

"Have too!"

"Have not! You on the other hand!"

"You mention that, and I'll do you for treason when I become a prefect."

"You want to be a prefect, Susan?" Harry asked.

"Yeah. It looks really good when you go for certain positions. It more or less guarantees that you can get in at mid-level in the Ministry. I'd love to be Head Girl, too. That would really help me get into Magical Law Enforcement. I know Aunt Amelia will put in a good word for me, but I'd rather earn my place."

Blaise would probably have something to say about that. She was very studious, and Harry knew she secretly dreamed of being Head Girl one day. But grades weren't everything that was considered, which meant that any seventh year prefect from any house could aspire to the highest post. Harry mentally kicked himself. Stop thinking about Blaise!

"I worry about Patil in Ravenclaw," Susan continued. "She's amazingly bookish. I've really got to put my nose to the grindstone next year and pull my marks up."

"How's that homework coming, Susan?" Harry asked brightly.

"Meh," she dismissed, waving her hand again. "It's too nice out to do homework."

The song stopped suddenly. They'd reached the end of the album. Hannah reached over and swapped music crystals. A single violin split the morning air with a piercing call, a desperate, pleading cascade of notes that ached with awful sadness.

Harry was captured instantly by the story, whatever it was going to be. When a woman's voice began to sing about love, destiny, blood, prejudice, and more love, Harry's breath was taken away by the poignant melancholy of the tale.

"Who's this?" Harry asked in a whisper as the violins faded away.

"Lyranna Erato. I love that song," Hannah replied. "It reminds me of my parents. Mum's Muggleborn, and Dad's clan is pureblood. There were only a few people who said anything when they got married, but he definitely went against the grain."

"She was a witch," Harry replied with a shrug. "My Mum was Muggleborn, too."

"Really?" the two girls asked at the same time.

"Yeah." Harry felt a swell of pride as he recited, "Lily Evans, Muggleborn, Prefect, Head Girl. She didn't play Quidditch, but nobody's perfect."

"So you're not pureblood," Hannah said.

Harry bristled a bit. "Not strictly, no."

"I thought you had to be pureblood to be in Slytherin."

"Blood matters," Harry replied. "But it's not everything."

"It is to some," Susan said. "I'm glad to see you've got a bit of sense about you."

Harry definitely didn't care for the insinuations against Slytherin. He knew some of his friends, Tim in particular, did get a bit obsessed about blood on occasion, but most Slytherins weren't foaming at the mouth with rabid denunciations of Muggleborns. Muggles, yes, but Muggleborns not so much.

"We're not that bad. It's just that the ones who have certain prejudices are the most vocal."

"They certainly are that," Susan agreed.

"So, have either of you got any relatives starting Hogwarts this year?" Harry asked to change the subject. The Slytherins regularly discussed their family during the Sorting Ceremony.

"My cousin Christine is so excited," Hannah answered. "She's my dad's brother's youngest daughter."

"Think she'll go to Hufflepuff with us?" Susan wondered.

"Probably. You know my whole family has always been Hufflepuff."

"Harry doesn't."

"Well he does now," Hannah said, flipping her hair back over her left shoulder. "Anyway, I've been horribly rude." She picked up the pitcher of lemonade and poured three glasses. She picked up one and handed it to Harry. Her fingers were very soft, and they lingered on Harry's hand for just a second as she gave him the drink.

"Thank you," Harry said politely. He took a tentative sip and was pleased to find the lemonade slightly tart. He'd had lemonade once, years ago, when Dudley had taken it into his head to make himself some. Unfortunately he'd dumped so much sugar into the mix that even he hadn't been able to drink it. He'd not thrown it away though. Harry could still remember the feeling of his cousin's arm around his throat as he'd held Harry from behind and poured the syrupy sludge down Harry's throat. "It's good."

"Made it myself," Hannah declared with a satisfied tone.

"Five points to Hufflepuff," Susan giggled.

"And here's five more."

Hannah stood up and made long strides down the length of the pool to the diving board. She climbed up the ladder and stood for a moment at the top. She took a deep breath. With a hop, a skip, and a bounce, Hannah launched herself into the air!

She twirled and rotated so many times on so many axes that Harry couldn't believe it when Hannah unfolded her body and entered the water hands first with only a bit of a splash. She swam immediately to the surface and went for the ladder.

"Bravo!" Susan called, clapping her hands. "Applaud, Harry."

Harry clapped too, shouting, "Ten!"

Hannah walked back over, shaking water out of her ear. "Thank you. You're too kind."

"I'd say ten points, not five," Susan declared with a nod.

"Me too," Harry said admiringly. "That was great."

"Glad you think so. Now it's your turn."

Harry obligingly took a turn at the diving board and his efforts weren't laughed at too badly by the girls. He managed to not do a belly-flop and counted it as success. Susan was a sight better, though nowhere near as tricky as Hannah.

The sun got higher in the sky, and they played in the water for hours. Harry snuck a few peeks at bums and bosoms when he could, and after lunch, he charmed his glasses to shades while they lay out under the sun to tan. Sirius' prediction didn't come true, for Hannah and Susan applied lotion to each other's backs. Harry was quite the sight as he tried to get himself, and the girls giggled at him as they firmly took the bottle away from him and helped.

When tea time came along, so did a cloud bank, and the sun was hidden. The day didn't seem nearly so nice then, for a cool wind picked up, and Harry found himself saying his goodbyes. He didn't want to overstay his welcome. He'd come to go swimming, and they weren't swimming any more.

As he was about the enter the Floo, Harry extended them both an invitation to his birthday party. Susan and Hannah seemed like quite decent girls to know. He'd just have to make sure Tim kept his mouth shut if he found out about Hannah's blood.

They accepted with some surprise. Evidently Hufflepuffs and Slytherins didn't run in the same circles, even outside of Hogwarts. Well, Harry intended to put a stop to that. It was hard not to like Hannah, whose mother had been Muggleborn just like Harry's. She was friendly, pretty, and moderately intelligent. Susan was the more sober of the pair, though not by much, and Harry wondered why he had never made friends with her before.

As soon as he got home, Harry went looking for Sirius. He found his godfather on the second floor in a spare room. He'd mentioned only that morning that he'd like to invite Draco and the others over to lift weights, but they didn't have a space. In the few hours since Harry had been gone, Sirius had converted one of the spare rooms for which they had no designated purpose into a complete weight room.

"It's a total rush job," Sirius apologized, "but it ought to do. Now I can start getting back into shape myself."

Harry didn't know what to say. He was absolutely overwhelmed by this gesture on Sirius' part. Sirius wasn't even making a joke out of things by claiming it was his birthday present.

"Do you like it?" Sirius asked anxiously.

"I do!" Harry said quickly. "It's great. Galactic, as they say in Hufflepuff."

"Yes! You must tell me all about it."

"Well, first of all you were wrong. Neither one of them tried to snog me. They didn't ask me to help with suntan lotion either."

"I'm thunderstruck."

"But they did giggle a lot," Harry conceded. "We talked about music. Hannah showed off at diving. Susan whipped us both at laps."

"You mean you didn't let her win just to be nice?"

"Let nothing. My arms are still sore from trying to beat her at least once."

Sirius wordlessly passed Harry a dumbbell. Harry couldn't help but smile.

to be continued...