Sirius barked out a laugh. "Brilliant! There's nothing he can do about that, not without looking like he's stunting progress. All of them are mixing? Even the Slytherins?"
"Even the Slytherins," Remus confirmed. "Mostly with Ravenclaws, but they're branching out to Hufflepuff and even Gryffindor in some cases. Severus said he once saw Cassius Warrington and Adrian Pucey discussing quidditch strategy with the Weasley twins and Angelina Johnson."
"Wow." Sirius looked duly impressed. "It'll be a whole different school by the time Harry leaves, if he's done this much in just a few months."
"I think that's what he's hoping for." Remus reached for his tea, taking a long gulp. "Our boy is definitely up to something. He says it's just study groups and friendships, but I know that look in his eye. That's a Lily Evans Vs The World kind of look." James always used to call it that, when Lily decided there was some injustice she absolutely couldn't stand for, and would plot ruthlessly until it was righted. If Harry was taking on that look in the face of Dumbledore… the headmaster had better watch out.
"Merlin, imagine if Prongsy and Lils could see him now," Sirius sighed, smiling faintly. Remus grinned back, the ache in his chest still present, but less raw. Every day it got easier to talk about them, now he had someone to remember them with. "They'd be so bloody proud."
"Severus said his grades are improving in spades," Remus couldn't help but brag. "Minerva was raving in the staff room about an essay of his that could've come from a sixth year, and Filius said he's picking things up even faster than Miss Granger. Moody's the only one who doesn't seem to be impressed by him."
Sirius scowled at the man's name. "Yeah, well he's in Dumbledore's pocket, isn't he? Never gonna be happy about Harry getting too strong. Pup needs to be more careful; if Dumbledore thinks he's broken the Compulsion charm, he might start looking into things."
"He knows what he's doing, Pads," Remus assured. "They all just think it's research for the tournament paying off in unexpected ways. Or the fact that he's hanging around with older kids more. He spends a lot of time with the Weasley twins, these days. And, of course, the other champions." Truthfully, Remus was a little worried about the rift between Harry, Ron and Hermione. It was going to get explosive; they were all too strong personalities for it not to. It was just a matter of when and how bad.
"He seems happy." Sirius was smiling softly as he spoke, and Remus nodded.
"Happier than last year," he agreed. Deep down, he liked to hope that at least a little bit of that was due to them; he and Sirius and Severus. Giving the boy a safe place to come home to, adults who loved him. Because Severus could deny it all he wanted; he was beginning to love Harry too, just a bit.
"Did you see him?" Sirius asked. "Just for a little while, he came down to Severus' rooms to have tea. He didn't stay long, though; Draco's giving him dancing lessons to prepare for the Yule Ball."
Sirius snorted. "We should've done that over the summer, as soon as we saw dress robes on the school list."
"I'm sure he's having much more fun learning this way," Remus assured, remembering the blush on Harry's face and the smile in his eyes as he confessed to getting lessons from Draco.
"Oh, I bet he is," Sirius drawled, smirking. "I hope there's pictures. I bet Harry'll look great in those dress robes. He's going with Amelia's niece, you said?" "Susan," Remus confirmed. "Nice girl. Definite snake in the badger den. She'll look after Harry."
"Hopefully he has a better time of it than we did at that graduation ball," Sirius remarked. A groan escaped Remus' lips; he'd almost forgotten about that.
"I try and block that night from my memory," he confessed, making Sirius laugh. Graduation ball had been an unmitigated disaster, for everyone except James and Lily.
Remus shook his head, setting his empty teacup down and slumping back in the armchair. Harry would probably have a great time at the Yule Ball — no one was likely to hex the dance floor, after all.
It was everything else that came after it, Remus was worried about.
The last week of term was dragging. Everyone was even more eager for the Christmas holidays than usual; hardly anyone fourth year or over would be going home, and the few younger students that had managed to snag invites to the ball. Harry watched the clock tick down on the last few minutes of Divination, completely ignoring Trelawney's lecture about… whatever it was she was talking about. Harry would happily admit he'd given up completely on Divination. As long as he checked which bit of the textbook they were at and filled his homework with lots of unfortunate mishaps and ominous predictions, he was making straight Os.
At last, the bell rang, and the entire class scrambled to their feet, making a mad dash for the trapdoor. Harry headed back to the tower with Parvati and Lavender, who were both discussing their dress robes. "Padma and I are wearing saris," Parvati told them, beaming. "Grandma sent them all the way from India. They're gorgeous." Parvati was going with Anthony Goldstein, and Harry was pretty sure Lavender was going with Seamus. Or maybe that fifth year Slytherin boy he'd seen her snogging in the library the other week. It was hard to keep track, sometimes.
"Do you have much family back in India, then?" Harry asked before he could help himself.
"Almost all of Papa's side of the family," Parvati confirmed. "We spend a month every summer out there, and sometimes Yule. We were supposed to go this year, but they understood when we wrote to say we were staying here."
"I wonder if I have any family in India," he mused, speaking more to himself than the girls. "Y'know, extended." He knew the Potters had been in and out of Britain since the 1600s, but Sirius said James' mother was born in India, so maybe he had family there.
"Have you ever been?" Lavender asked curiously. Harry snorted. "Nope. I've never even left Britain. My relatives don't like me, remember?" The Dursleys would sooner cut their own limbs off than take him anywhere. "They like to pretend I'm just a bit tan."
Parvati grimaced, squeezing his shoulder sympathetically. "If you ever want to go, you can come stay with our family. The House of Patil would be honoured to host you."
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