"I'm sorry I couldn't get you away from those awful muggles, Harry. You know I'd welcome you into my house if I could."
"Don't worry about it, Sirius. Last summer was fantastic," Harry said, grinning at Hermione.
"What?" Sirius looked back and forth between the two teens.
"Harry stayed over at my house for summer. And the winter hols, too," Hermione explained.
"Really? Did you two have a lot of fun together?" Sirius winked.
"I... I'm only fourteen!" Harry blurted out.
"And you're in fourth year. If things are remotely like the seventies, then it's not a bad time to start... I mean, I was fifth year when I had my first shag, but then again, I'm thirty-five and I still haven't defeated a Dark Lord yet." Sirius gave a throaty laugh when he saw Harry's speechless face. Hermione stepped in to defend her boyfriend.
"I'll have you know that Harry is a perfect gentleman, not some skirt-chaser!"
"Really? I thought you'd be more popular with the ladies. Okay, fine, so you're not bedding them, but at least you've dated a few, right? James was a bit like that. He could charm just about any girl in school, but in the end he saved himself for Lily..." Sirius sat back with a happy smile, reminiscing about his old school days.
"Er... I've only had a few dates with Hermione. And the first few I didn't realize they counted as dates," Harry said sheepishly.
"You're doing fine," Hermione reassured him.
"Harry, here's lesson number one. Whenever a woman tells you you're doing fine, it means you're not, and you need to kick it up a notch." Seeing Hermione's glare, he whispered, "I'll teach you the rest later." He continued, "Well, seeing as neither of you have slept with each other yet, this next bit's going to sound a little pointless, but..."
"Well, we have slept together a few times..." Harry mused dreamily, but Hermione elbowed him in the ribs.
"Oh really? What's this about Harry being a perfect gentleman again?"
"Fully clothed!" Hermione clarified. "Like when we fell asleep on the couch on Christmas Eve."
"Or when we were doing our animagi training. Was that the first time it happened?"
"Hey, you're making use of my birthday gift? How's it coming?" Sirius said with a wide smile, leaning forward. If he had been in his dog form, Harry was sure he would see a wagging tail.
"We've discovered our forms, and we're still working on the transfiguration," Harry said. "We started with the limbs like you suggested, but the body is really tricky..."
"Whoa there, pup. You're saying that in the past six months both of you have already discovered your forms? I thought James and I were geniuses for figuring it out by the end of fourth year..." Sirius exclaimed wondrously.
"Really? We think it'll take us until the end of fourth year at least to get it down pat. It's not any faster than you, is it?"
"Yeah, except we started training in second year," Sirius said. "You two sure are really quick on the uptake. So, what are your forms?"
"Well, Harry's an osprey," Hermione said.
"And Hermione's a burrowing owl," Harry finished.
"Wow, both of you nailed it down to the species already? You're even faster than I thought!"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that by the end of my fourth year, I only figured out I was a black dog. I had no idea I was an Irish wolfhound until Christmas of fifth year."
"I see what you mean. I knew I was a bird because I was flying, but I wouldn't have had a clue what I was until Hermione told me." He smiled sweetly at her, mouthing "thanks."
"You're telling me that you," he said, pointing at Hermione, "figured it out before you," now pointing to Harry, "even managed a transformation?"
Harry shrugged. "What can I say? Hermione's a genius."
"Hey, we Marauders had our genius too. Moony was able to help us with our animagi training even though he couldn't do it himself, but he wasn't that good."
Hermione was now blushing in modesty. Harry smiled and continued to heap on the praise. "Hermione's way beyond Professor Lupin... she's probably got things inside her head that he'll never comprehend."
Sirius snorted. "She's a teenage girl. There's plenty of things about her that Moony'd never understand."
"Stop it, you two! It wasn't like I was the only one... Harry helped me figure out my form, too. I thought I was a gopher or something until he described my form to me."
"Wait, what? You figured out each other's forms? Are you telling me Harry knew more about owls than you did, Hermione?"
"No, no... we just saw each other in our dreams. I described what she looked like, and she figured out the actual species."
"How can you two see each other inside each other's dreams?" Sirius was looking both surprised and confused.
"I don't know. We did our usual meditations, but we fell asleep together. Then it just happened," Harry shrugged.
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