Gazing upon what James said was her final clue of this whole process, Hermione knew exactly where it would take her. After all, she knew that there was only one person that she hadn't seen today at all, and by looks of the clue, it was without a doubt the person that she expected.

"Little Sluggy,
Shall we begin our search for the stars?"
You should know this, seriously.

Sirius, and the Astronomy tower. Of course. Hermione's best class may not be Astronomy, but she knew that this clue would lead her there regardless. It's... thoughtful, really, Hermione thought as she pondered over what Sirius has spoken to her on the first day of class, written on the parchment.

"Thanks, James."

"'Course, Sluggy. See you later," James finished as Hermione exited the Potions classroom. As she left, however, James couldn't get Harper's amortentia preference out of his head. Something about "wet dog" made him grow curious.

Meanwhile, apparently during the time that Hermione had spent on that task, the night had fully taken over the sky. The stars burned bright, and the moon itself provided enough glow for anyone lost within the darkness so pull themselves back.

Thankfully, Hermione didn't have to worry about getting lost in the dark while on her way to the Astronomy tower. It may be anything but bright, but that tower let her gaze upon those beautifully blazing stars, even if she didn't fully understand them. At least Sirius did, however.

Speak of the devil, there he laid on the ground of the astronomy tower, gazing up at his namesake, who provided the brightest glow of all.

Being up at the top of this tower gave Sirius that feeling of invisibility that he longed for so greatly, despite his lack of James' cloak. He almost wished that Harper's second-to-last task took up more time than anticipated; he wanted to soak up the lack of pressure that he left in this moment. But only the thought of Harper led Sirius' mind down a rabbit hole that he couldn't quite drag himself out from.

His thoughts shifted to the new girl. To Harper. To the astronomy class that he shared with the her, allowing Sirius to associate her with the brighter things in life that he would always desire, even when the world around him continued to grow dark. At the one place he felt safe and accepted, in the one class that he didn't completely loathe, she was there. He didn't care if he had only know her for less than two weeks, Sirius knew that she was good. He just knew.

While staring up at his star, Sirius felt more relaxed than he had since the start of the school year. That is, until the girl he couldn't get off of his mind crept up from the spiral staircase.

"Sirius! There you are," spoke the new girl, out of breath from the steep lengthy, stairs.

He stood from the ground and fluffed his hair as routine. "Hey, Harper. Long day?" he chuckled, and watched as she smiled in return.

"It sure has been hectic," Hermione laughed, "Lots of tiring tasks, for sure."

"How was the black lake? Good to see you didn't drown," Sirius stumbled.

"Oh, that one wasn't so bad. The hardest one was definitely Peter's task. I can't believe you guys found the lost diadem!" Hermione exclaimed.

"James and I, yeah. I swear that room's filled with Merlin knows what," Sirius laughed, distracted by Harper and lost in conversation. Fixing his hair yet again, he nearly forgot why she was here in the first place.

"Oh, your task, I almost forgot," Sirius spoke in a jumbled fashion. Something was up, and Hermione could tell.

"Hopefully it isn't too difficult, I'm exhausted."

"Don't worry, It's not."

After walking the new girl over to a table and a set of chairs, Sirius whipped out a hidden bottle of Firewhiskey and sat down. The sight of more alcohol caused the ends of her fingers to become tingly as she took a seat next to the dark-haired boy, nervous.

"It's simple," he said, looking directly into the eyes of Hermione, "much like Truth or Dare, except there's no dare."

"So, basically just ask each other questions?"

"Along the lines of that, Sluggy," he answered quickly, before twisting off the cap to the liquor bottle. "Only if you don't want to answer, you drink. The first to drink three times loses. And don't forget the Veritaserum," he said while mixing a small vial of liquid into the liquor. "We won't be lying today, eh, Sluggy?"

As soon as those words left this mouth, Sirius could tell that the nerves of the girl to his left were heightened. Maybe she wasn't used to liquor, or the truth, he didn't know. All he knew was that he chose this task because he wanted to know more about the new girl, to dive deeper into the mysterious Beauxbatons transfer student that Sirius' gut told him had much more to tell.

But while he pondered over the new girl and her thoughts, she sat motionless at the table, only for a moment, however. Of course, she was nervous, but maybe Harper wasn't. The last thing Hermione wanted to do was raise any suspicion to one of the people she was supposed to be getting close to.

"Alright," she gulped, "ask away."

There he sat, with his grey eyes darting from her, to the liquor, and back to her again.

"I'll start easy," he chuckled, "What was your first impression of us all?"

Hermione gulped. A question as easy as this she shouldn't have to waste a drink on, and after all, she hadn't taken any Veritaserum yet.

"Well," she began, "Lily was extremely welcoming and, erm, James reminded me of a friend back home. I got a feeling that Peter has more of a quiet side, and that Remus acts as his shield sometimes. He also seemed intelligent to me, and erm, sophisticated," Hermione paused, "and you, well, you're the most confident by far."

And at that moment, a part of Sirius hoped that she would have said more about him than just his confidence. But what she saw is the mask that he shows to the world, that boasts about silly accomplishments and hides what he keeps inside; if only the new girl knew him as the others do.

"What was your first impression of me?" Hermione darted back at the boy she was slowly getting to know.

Sirius smiled. "For starters, when Lily introduced you to me and my friends, you very kind and smart simply by the words that you spoke. Honestly, I was shocked that you weren't sorted into Ravenclaw when you first arrived."

"Hey! I'll say that I'm smart, I'll give you that, but I like to think of myself as brave too," Hermione laughed back, making conversation.

"Oh, really?" Sirius laughed.

"Yeah, really!" she laughed back, "I bet you haven't faced half the things I have," Hermione spoke back confidently, crossing her arms and sending a smirk in Sirius' direction.

"Which brings me to my next question," he started, and began to speak his words in a sarcastic manner, "what supposed 'things' have you faced?" He pretended to be exaggeratingly shocked when he added, "Does Beauxbaton's Academy of Magic have dangerous things unbeknownst to me?"

Before taking a second thought, Hermione said, "Oh, I'll drink to that," in a hurry, well aware than the Veritaserum would be in her system. There was no way she could make up a story of what she's 'faced' that would actually be believable to Sirius. So she drank.

Sirius watched as the new girl took a swig of the liquor faster than he had ever seen, set the bottle on the table with a clank, and wiped her lips dry.

"When was the last time you cried?" Hermione asked nonchalantly.

"Oh, that's a tough one," Sirius answered jokingly, before grabbing the bottle from Harper's side of the table and taking a drink.

"Not so tough as you let on now, are you, Sirius?"

"Oh, shut it, Sluggy," he laughed back as he screwed the bottle's cap back on. He was somewhat take aback by the new girl's question, but he sure as hell wouldn't be telling her the last time that a tear dropped down his face. Not even James knew that, and Sirius wanted to keep it that way.

Meanwhile, Hermione chuckled. This was unlike her: letting her guard down even though it wasn't hers to let down, pretending to be someone she's not. But so far, she proved to be pretty damn good at it. "Alright," spoke Hermione, crossing her arms again and looking at Sirius, "you're up."

"What's it like being Slughorn's neice?"

"Oh, it's nothing special, believe me," Hermione spoke, relieved the truth-telling serum allowed her to answer it truthfully. "What's a secret about you than not even James knows?"

Sirius instantly took another drink. "Little Sluggy, now it'd be no fun if I told you that," he spoke confidently, before Hermione nodded her head and let the black-hair boy ask his next question.

"Let's see, how many boys have you snogged before?"

"One," she spoke back quickly while thinking of her fourth year with Viktor Krum. It was clear that the Veritaserum had gotten to work.

"Only one?"

"Well, I'm obviously not lying," she laughed off.

"Slim pickings at Beauxbaton's I presume?"

"Something like that," she said, "How many girls have you snogged, Sirius?" Hermione smirked, unusually.

"Eight, I believe."

"Good Merlin, that's a lot," spoke Hermione to the boy who had apparently snogged eight girls total. It wasn't a lie, obviously, but eight girls? Eight girls who had been held close by the black-haired boy sitting beside her? It surely sounded like a lot, especially to a girl like her who had only ever experienced a single peck.

Sirius, on the other hand, wasn't too sure to say next. It's one thing to boast to James and the boys about snogging a girl, but to Harper? A sense of embarrassment overcame him, his cheeks growing rosy enough for Harper to take notice.

"My turn," he spat back, "What do you miss most about your home?"

Hermione took a deep breath, trying to concentrate on something other than Sirius' fun fact about how many girls he's snogged. "Probably my friends," she started, praying that the Veritaserum wouldn't make her say anything too revealing, "I love them with all my heart, and I swear to Merlin we've been to hell and back together."

"Oh Harper," Sirius gasped obnoxiously, placing his hand on his chest sarcastically, "that's precious, it really is."

"I'm serious! It's like you with James, Peter, Remus and Lily. How would you feel spending an entire year away from them?"

Sirius passed. "Pretty bad, I guess."

"Exactly."

"Wait," he questioned, "why'd you come to Hogwarts in the first place then?"

Hermione gulped, and did her best not to show signs of nervousness. She was without the slightest chance to answer this question truthfully. That same tingly feeling from before entered her fingers once again as she reached for the bottle. Would it really be a big deal to ignore the question and take a swig?

"That's a long story, let's save it for another day," the new girl spoke as she took a swig from the glass bottle, leaving Sirius more confused than before. Before he got a chance to speak, Hermione darted back with her next question, a thought pressing in her mind that wouldn't escape for a reason she didn't yet know.

"Which eight girls?"

"Didn't I say this already at that party two weeks ago?"

"Well, not exactly, not all of them," she spoke, choking on her own words and facing the realization that her question was much more awkward than she expected it to be.

"Alright, well, there's Lucinda Talkalot, Jamie Chang, Alecto Carrow, Holly Dayly, Emma Vanity, Greta Curd, Astoria Rosewater," he paused, fluffing his hair, "and, um, I kissed Dorcas Meadows a while back on a date, but that was like third year so I don't know if—"

"Isn't that Remus' ex-girlfriend?" the new, curious girl interrupted. Her thoughts shifted to the chocolate-loving boy once again.

"Well, technically, yes, but I wouldn't mark anything as set in stone," he added, smirking.

Hermione grew confused. "How do you mean?"

"You didn't hear it from me, but I'm pretty sure an old spark is getting re-lit between those two. Remus said something about it being a better time now that they're older, but I don't know. Anyways, don't tell anyone I don't you, yeah?"

Hermione gulped. "Yeah," she mumbled, swallowing an uneasy feeling that she couldn't put into words. Sure, Hermione had only known the boy for two weeks, but the idea of him with Dorcas made her more unsettled than expected. Almost as weirdly unsettling as the thought of Sirius snogging eight different girls.

"What, do you fancy Remus or something?" Sirius darted back, speaking one of the few questions Hermione wanted to avoid at all costs.

The veritaserum, bloody hell, Hermione thought. Her mind jumped from idea to idea, hoping to figure out a way to answer without actually saying the truth. Taking a drink would be much too suspicious, but in all honesty, Hermione wasn't even sure that she fully fancied the chocolate-loving boy.

A part of Sirius prayed to Merlin that Harper's answer would be no. Mentally crossing his fingers, he waited with angst for the new girl's possible response.

"I've only been here two weeks, Sirius, of course I don't," she spoke back with confidence. Her stomach settling as she pondered over how her words had possibly gotten past the truth-telling serum. But she had gotten her answer to a question that had made her head spin for the past week: she does not fancy Remus, apparently.

Meanwhile, Sirius was thanking the stars. Knowing that the new girl who was bound to be good didn't fancy his best friend made Sirius' heart finally start beating at a regular pace. He couldn't put it into words, but he had grown fond of her in a different way than he has for those other eight girls.

"Who do you fancy?" the new girl spoke, interrupting the thoughts of Sirius.

At first, Sirius tried to answer in a way that the veritaserum wouldn't allow. "I don—, I d—" he tried repeatedly, both him and the girl next to him growing confused.

Did he really fancy her? It couldn't possibly be anyone other than the new girl, but only after two weeks?

"You've got me, Little Sluggy," smiled Sirius in defeat as he reached for the bottle to take his third and final swig, "you win."

A/N: please leave a comment or vote on this chapter so I can know that you enjoyed it! thanks for nearly 300 views!!

A/N UPDATE (8/1/20): woah! this chapter kinda had a lot of stuff going on! and KINDA a lot of progress between sirius and hermione i guess??? so if you can't tell already i'm SHIT at writing dialogue, so sorry if you didnt like the chapter. also it took me so mf long to write it, so sorry about that! anyways, i hope you're enjoying the story so far!!     - callahan