( Saturday Morning )
"Hi Harry," Lavender cooed as he looked up from his textbook to register the familiar faces of Lavender, Parvati, and the red-head Sally-Anne standing next to her, the former looking rather nervous as he examined the trio, dressed in casual clothes for the weekend. "Do you mind if the three of us sit with you?" the young lioness enquired, her study books pressed up against and drawing attention to her blossoming chest.
Considering his options and remembering Sirius' advice about not alienating girls with wicked tongues, he replied with a simple, "Of course," a fake smile pasted on his lips. Truthfully, though, he wanted nothing more than to tell the three talkative lions to go away so that he could focus on his studies in peace. "As long as you're quiet and don't disturb me too much," he added with a charming smile to take the potential sting out of his words.
After all, his independent projects were seriously lagging behind in forward progress this year, with all the upheaval caused by the opening of the Chamber of Secrets and Pettigrew's attempts on his life. All this was in addition to his increasing involvement in running his family businesses and being a part of the Quidditch team, not to mention most of his free time being taken up with training one-on-one with Tonks. And he couldn't forget his tutoring of Luna.
His cousin could be quite the old drill instructor when she got going. In fact, under her watchful eye, he already knew and was comfortable using most of the 4th-year DADA practical material and even knew several fifth-year spells. He had even found and practiced several new spells himself, such as the ever-useful and deadly ribbon cutter, which he had stumbled upon in his searches through the Restricted Section.
The ribbon cutter, which was originally designed to clear sections of forests of large trees, fired a thin ribbon of pink energy from the wand about a foot in width but lacking much of any depth, like a paper ribbon, from which its name was derived. An unskilled user of the spell could point and shoot the cutter energy like a gun, flying straight and true and then dissipating after only a short distance.
A master at the spell could wield and direct it like a semi-flexible razor whip and keep it up and running by feeding it a continuous but variable flow of magical power. In time, a person could even instinctively alter the width of the ribbon, making it smaller or wider at will and wield it like a scalpel.
However, all this rapid progress in DADA and duelling came at the cost of his burgeoning research into runes, which had completely fallen by the wayside. There just weren't enough hours in the day to do all that he wanted, and prioritizing was the only way to move forward.
When you had someone out to kill you, you had to focus on the bigger picture, such as gaining practical skills in combat magic and growing stronger and faster. However, one of his independent projects, that of becoming an Animagus, was actually coming along quite nicely, if he said so himself.
So now that he finally had a real chance to catch up in his independent studies, he was rather reluctant to let it go, no matter how pretty the girls were. After all, Lavender couldn't help but gossip, and that was exactly why she was already considered the gossip queen of their year. The blonde also happened to remind him of Rita and how the Prophet's star reporter liked to spread gossip in her articles. 'Maybe I should introduce them to each other?' he considered, before eventually dismissing it as premature.
Plus, the three of them had been stalking him for the last couple of days, since the announcement of the Valentine's Day celebrations. 'I should have kept my mouth shut,' he mentally rumbled in annoyance at the situation he had indirectly set in motion.
Naturally, he had taken to a policy of avoidance, rather than risk offending the girl by rebuffing her advances. Unfortunately, the girl was quite persistent in her pursuit. While it was rather flattering and most certainly a confidence booster, it would also cause issues with his friends; both Padma and Tracy were interested in him, based on their not-so-subtle hints.
Not that he would mind a kiss or more from Lavender, though; his lips were positively twitching for another chance at one after the New Year's kiss he had received from the twins, as his budding teenage hormones started to play havoc with his focus, even with his mind magic at work in helping to restrain them.
Honestly, he was terrified at the thought of what he would likely be like without his mind magic helping to rein in his biological impulses, impulses which had been strengthened many times over by his progress into becoming an Animagus and deeply connecting with his animal side.
However, since his policy of avoidance seemed to be failing to get the desired results, logically he had to take another approach, but the question was what approach to take? Turning his attention back to his studies, he silently considered his problem and how he could get some level of control over the situation as the Gryffindor trio sat down, following Lavender's lead, who sat directly to his left, Parvati to his right, with Sally-Anne sitting next to her.
Lavender lasted less than a minute before breaking the silence and asking him a question. "Whatcha reading, Harry?" causing him to mentally groan.
...
That Evening
"So what do you recommend?" Harry asked his suitably amused godfather, after explaining his current dilemma.
He watched as a wide grin appeared on Sirius' face over the enchanted mirrors. "It's a simple solution, really; just get a girlfriend," Sirius offered and then said no more, as if that was all that needed to be said. Harry raised an inquisitive eyebrow, causing his godfather to elaborate on his answer more.
He waited patiently as his godfather gave him a look of disappointment, like he was explaining something so simple that even a complete idiot should understand it, much like how Professor Snape would look whenever he was talking down to Ron.
"If you have a girlfriend, you're off the market; therefore, they will lose interest until you're back on the market again. Unless, of course, they think they can steal you away from her, which can get rather interesting and oh so very enjoyable." Sirius offered with a smirk and a look of fond nostalgia. "Therefore, get a girlfriend who will be protective of you, a young, proud lioness that is territorial but understands your boundaries and the need for personal space."
"Really? It's that simple?" he questioned further, still not quite believing that such a simple solution would really work.
"Yeah, duh," his godfather explained, while shaking his head again in disappointment. "Remember, just because you're dating someone doesn't mean you're agreeing to a lifetime commitment. Just enjoy the experience," Sirius advised.
"Alright," Harry finally agreed, once again bowing to his godfather's undeniable wisdom concerning all things girl. "Now, I just need to decide who to ask out."
"What about one of those twins?" Sirius suggested with a mischievous grin.
He considered whether to ask Padma out. "It would certainly be beneficial to the docks if you were to be on good terms with Lord Patil.
Often the first couple of years after opening a new business are the hardest. However, if you go down that road, work to ensure that your friendship remains intact no matter what happens." Sirius carefully advised, before looking over his shoulder. "Oh, Remus says hi!"
...
( Number 12 )
He smiled as he closed the connection to Harry's mirror, proud of himself for finally cracking Harry's outer shell and encouraging normal teenage behaviour. But now he had to get back to his notes for the upcoming debate on werewolf rights proposed by Madam Umbridge.
"I can't believe you did that, Sirius," Remus voiced crossly as the werewolf entered his office. "You shouldn't be encouraging him to play with other people's emotions."
Shaking his head in amusement, he responded, "Oh come on, Remus, we were the same at that age," Sirius expressed with a fond smile. "It's a game everyone plays. Lords and Ladies even encourage their children to pursue relationships with other heirs that benefit their goals."
"No, it was you and James that were playing the field, Sirius, not me," Remus lectured.
"Only because you were all stuck up with your 'I'm a werewolf; no one will want me' attitude," Sirius countered, as Remus gave him a vicious look that clearly said 'don't go there.'
"I personally recall that you were quite popular with the ladies at Hogwarts, as they all considered you 'such a gentleman.' But you just never chose to act on any of their obvious advances, preferring to sulk in your self-pity." At this, Remus' eyes narrowed dangerously.
"I said don't go there, Sirius," Remus spoke forcefully.
...
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