"Let me sleep," Rose muttered, her face half in the pillow.

"Rose," Tonks said pointedly. "You have to get up."

"It's so early."

"It's the middle of the afternoon," she countered, "And we're supposed to be helping Mrs. Potter."

Rose's nose scrunched up slightly, "Lily and the boys got it covered."

"They're down one because Remus can't stand."

"There's still three people who are more than capable."

"Rose."

"Fine," she huffed, sitting up. "But I'm not going to be happy about it."

Tonks rolled her eyes, "You wouldn't be you if you were." She patted the redhead's leg, "Now get up and shower. The party is in three hours and we still have a load of work to do."

Rose flashed a faux smile, "Lovely."

The pink haired girl left the room a moment later, leaving Rose to her own devices. Rose got up reluctantly, gathering clothes and placing them on a pile on her bed before she entered the bathroom that was connected to the guest room she had been staying in.

The Potter Manner was massive compared to the house Rose was accustomed to. She stopped leaving the room without anyone with her because she tended to get lost.

She made the shower quick seeing as she had been in bed all afternoon and hadn't helped out even a little.

It was New Years and the Potter's apparently hosted a huge party every year. Extra hands meant extra help and it was only fair that Rose helped out with how hospitable the Potter's had been.

Her and James's relationship had changed significantly since the events that occurred in Diagon Alley. While it wasn't back to how it was before they fought, something had definitely changed.

Rose left the bathroom with the towel wrapped around her. She had left the towel that she used to dry her hair on a rack seeing as she would no doubt shower again before they left for Hogwarts and there was no point in wasting another towel.

She ran her hand through her hair as she moved to remove her towel. She jumped in surprise, quickly pulling the towel back around herself, "God, Black, you scared me."

He looked up and smirked slightly, no doubt at her attire, "Tonks told me you would probably need help being directed to the sitting room. What she didn't tell me was all you would be wearing was a towel."

She narrowed her eyes, "I could be wearing less." With that, she dropped her towel to the floor and he grinned.

"You're such a tease, Evans," he tutted. "I'm not sure this is what your friend meant by helping out."

"Then she should have been more specific," Rose countered and Sirius stood up, crossing the room to her.

"I, for one, am glad she wasn't."

"Are you going to kiss me or are you just going to stand there?"

As he leaned down to place a kiss on her lips the door opened and Rose jumped in surprise. They both turned so that their backs were against each other's and he was blocking her from whoever it was as best as he could.

"Ever heard of knocking, Wormtail?" Sirius inquired and Rose let out a breath of relief. She bent down quickly and grabbed the towel, wrapping it around herself.

"Sorry," Peter managed to get out. "I wasn't - I didn't...Sorry." At least it wasn't-

"Why would it matter if he knocked or not?" James spoke up and Rose cringed. This is what she had been worried about.

She turned and peered around the corner, smiling sheepishly at the two boys who stood by the door. She held the towel tight against her chest as James seemed to be taking in the situation.

"Peter, go tell my mother that we'll be down in a minute," James suggested and the boy visibly gulped. He shot an apologetic look in Rose and Sirius's direction before taking off.

James stared at the two, not saying a word. His jaw was clenched and his eyebrows were pinched together as though he were trying to think of what to say.

Rose cleared her throat uncomfortably before walking over to the bed, "So I'm gonna change." She gestured between the two, "I'm sure you two will be able to hatch this one out. Remember, use your words." She shot James a pointed look, "No need to break his nose."

She took off toward the bathroom quickly, not waiting for a reaction from either of them.

When Rose finally emerged from the bathroom, she found that both of the boys were gone. While initially, she had been grateful, she then grew worried. Where had they ended up?

Upon arriving downstairs, she found that neither of them were anywhere in sight. Peter approached her and asked if they would be down soon. She explained that she had no idea where they were and he let out a squeak before scurrying off.

Rose let out a sigh as she started her way toward the kitchen. She stopped, however, when someone walked out. It was Sirius sporting a cut on his jaw along with a forming bruise.

"So he completely ignored the 'use your words' comment?" she demanded.

"You said he shouldn't break my nose," Sirius pointed out.

"Did you explain that it was just sex?" she asked.

He snorted, "If I said that, I would have gotten a lot worse than a bruise on my jaw."

She huffed, "God, he's so incredibly stupid. Who does he think he is going around and punching anyone who ticks him off? What does he think gives him the right?" Sirius opened his mouth to reply but the girl continued, "What's it to him who I decide to have sex with? It doesn't concern him!"

"Woah there, Pads," Remus said as he wheeled toward the pair. "What did you do? Get in a fight with the cutting board?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes, "No."

Rose scoffed, "James punched him."

"He did?" Remus asked in surprise. "Why?"

"Because he's been sleeping with me."

Sirius shot the girl a look and Remus appeared surprised at this. Well, not the idea that the pair had been sleeping together because he had suspected that for some time but that James had found out.

"You're an asshole, James Potter," Rose informed the boy once he had entered the room and Remus wheeled his chair backwards a foot or so. Sirius followed in suit, taking a step back.

He raised an eyebrow, "What did I do?"

"You punched him!"

"He's just using you for-"

"Sex?" she finished for him, crossing her arms over her chest. "That was the idea! Maybe if you would get yourself laid, you wouldn't be such an arrogant toe-rag!" In hindsight, that wasn't something she should have said considering he was dating her sister but nevertheless. "Are you going to punch me too?" she asked. "I mean, I'm using your best friend as a living sex toy so go for it."  She turned her head slightly and pointed at her jaw, "Lay one on me."

"Are you done?" he inquired, his jaw clenched and arms crossed over his chest.

"Are you done?" she countered.

"What's going on?" Lily spoke up and the bickering pair turned to see that both Lily and Tonks had entered the room with boxes of decorations.

"Tell your boyfriend to mind his own damn business," Rose requested before she left the room.

Lily blinked a few times as she processed her sister's words. She looked from person to person as she took in the scene. She let out a huff as she realized what happened. James found out about Sirius and Rose.

"You should really put some ice on that," she suggested and Sirius raised an eyebrow. She made her way to a table and placed the box down. The group dispersed, no one wanting to be the one to bring it up first.

"You're up to something," Sirius stated with narrowed eyebrows. Lily turned to look at him and saw that he had a bag of frozen peas held to his jaw. "What is it?"

"What makes you say that?" she inquired.

"Most girls would freak out if their boyfriend was so incredibly jealous of their sister kissing someone else," he explained. "You were all too okay with it."

She nibbled slightly on her lip, "You can't tell anyone."

He narrowed his eyes, "What exactly have you done?"

"I haven't done anything," she replied. "I merely have plans to do something."

"Go on."

"I'm trying to get Rose and James together."

He snorted, "You're trying to set up your boyfriend with your sister?"

"Yes, now if you would keep your opinions to yourself and help me finish hanging these decorations, that would be preferred," she suggested. "I don't care to hear about how awful of an idea it is seeing as I already know that."

"I didn't say it was a bad idea," he pointed out. "Stupid, yes, definitely. But someone needs to help them realize that they care about each other as more than friends and I am more than happy to be of service to the cause."

"You want to help?" Lily asked in surprise which caused Sirius to raise an eyebrow. "I thought you two were, well, you know..."

Sirius laughed, "You can have sex with someone and have no romantic feelings for them. It's just sex."

"Oh," she said in surprise. "Well then, I guess we have a lot of work to do." She looked at the decorations on the table, "But maybe we should do this first."

"Has anyone seen the red streamers?" Rose asked and Sirius and Lily turned to look at where the girl stood on the latter. "I ran out and if I get down from here I won't be able to build up enough courage to get back up."

"I found them," James announced and the boy crossed the room to her. Lily and Sirius exchanged a look before discreetly watching the interaction between the two.

He held the roll up to her and she grabbed it. It slipped from her hand and fell to the ground. He bent down with a sigh as he picked it up.

"You gonna punch me for dropping that?" she inquired with a raised eyebrow. His face was neutral as he handed it back to her, "Seems to be your solution to everything."

He shook his head but said nothing and instead walked off, leaving the girl to her own devices.

"You're not helping yourself, Potter!" she shouted after him but was once again met with no response.

Rose huffed before turning back to focusing on her work.

Lily let out an exasperated sigh as she went back to her own work, "One step forward and two steps back."

"They're both a piece of work."

"Agreed."