Author's Note: All right, a lot of y'all were voicing outrage (all right, I'm being melodramatic) at Snape's supposed OOC remark-- it'll be explained VERY soon. (But not in this chapter. ....) And uh... sorry this has been taking forever. Yeah. No excuse, really, so I'll leave it at that.

"Remus," pronounced Sirius flourishingly. "These days weigh heavy upon my soul. To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of an outrageous fortune or to take arms against a troubled-"

"Oh, shut up," Remus muttered, clasping Sirius's arm. He'd found him down by the Great Hall, quoting Shakespeare to himself. They needed to get down to the brass-tacks: Find Lily and James and get back. Now.

"Look! Little children to play with," grinned Sirius evilly as a few fifth years passed by. Before Remus could tighten his grip, Sirius had run off, galloping towards the students. Everything was happening too quickly, just stay put..!

Remus cringed as Sirius began his rampage. "But soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon…" he serenaded, going on one knee to the Hufflepuff girl.

This was too much. Way too much. Remus was ready to step in and apologize; his friend had escaped from a mental institution and that he needed to take him back, thanks-

"Oh no, here comes Looney Lovegood," the Hufflepuff girl muttered, turning her back in disgust and walking the other way. The other boy shrugged his shoulders as he walked away.

"Parting is such sweet sorrow-" began Sirius, but when Luna Lovegood came into his sight, he could say not another word.

How could he describe her? Her hair was as golden as the sun; her eyes the blue of a crystal pool. If a soul should swim through the pool, they should be lost helplessly at the depth and brilliance of the color.

He walked forward, drawn to her.

"Sirius," warned Remus, grabbing his robe sleeve. There were a hundred things wrong with this, but at the moment, Remus could only think of one. "Don't you love Rosa?" he started helplessly.

"No. I have forgot that name, and that name's woe," whispered Sirius, creeping hesitantly towards Luna. "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!"

The girl Looney, Remus thought the students had said, quirked an eyebrow. "Who are you?" she said.

"She speaks. O, speak again, bright angel for thou art as glorious to this night, being o'er my head, as is a winged messenger of Heaven," breathed Sirius, reciting through Romeo and Juliet subconsciously. How he had read this play over and over again at Andromeda's house, for good pick-up lines… but instead finding them used for true love.

"This is true love," he whispered, knowing it was true.

"You need to get outside, Sirius. You've been cooped up too long. Is Moaning Myrtle getting to your head? Let's GO."

Looney held her hand out to Sirius. "You are a poet. A true poet," she murmured, looking very solemn.

"If I profane," Sirius began, looking hesitantly at his hand, trembling with anxiety to reach hers, "with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this-"

Remus felt like screaming through his teeth. "Stop it, Sirius," he muttered angrily. "You've had your fun, now let's leave!"

"No."

Looney was placing her hands upon a wall, pushing a few bricks then moving a step to the right.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked, eyes never leaving Luna's.

She glanced up at him, face as serious as ever. "I am trying to find a passageway to Durmstrang. Another boy came by asking me that- dark hair, glasses… Usually, no one talks to me."

Sirius's face crumpled into concern. "That's terrible!" he cried.

For a few moments, Remus disregarded the description of the boy passing by Luna. Then, he saw the boy clearly. "James…"

He turned on Luna. "Where did the boy go? Which way?" he asked frantically, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. They could go home, they would find James; they would find Peter...

"Can I help you in any way," Sirius asked sincerely. "For I would do anything for you, anything for this angel of light that spreads her holiness upon the poor vagabond that stumbles upon this shrine-"

"Yes. I would need a few hairs of Professor Flitwick to arrange into a pyramid on the north-west brick to open this passage- to test this theory. If it doesn't work, I'll be most awfully sorry." Her eyes looked large and sad at the last statement, and Sirius felt a sudden surge of chivalry. He could prove himself worthy.

"Of course," he replied. "Farewell, farewell, one kiss and I'll descend." Sirius looked hopeful at his last statement, and Looney obligingly leaned down and gave him soft peck on the forehead.

"Thank you very much," she said, giving a small smile. "I would have done it myself, but I'm guarding the other wall so that the Hippogriffs won't escape. What is your name?"

Remus knew what Sirius was going to say.

"Romeo," he whispered, as if the name Sirius Black may offend her, before running off in search of the item for his love.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Tie adjusted, shoe tied, hair combed… yes, Sirius was ready for this. He tried giving the tie one more twist, and looked down at the suit that was all too long for him. The manager gave him the suit, and then began to mutter about how guests were awful pushy these days. Sirius decided to ignore him. The tie was awfully short too…

He left the hotel jauntily, almost skipping down the road. This was the life. He could just teach this one day to make Mrs. Hotel Desk Lady believe him. Then he'd run off towards home. To Harry.

A small white painted building stood ahead of him, quite unimposing. This must be it, especially with the sign that said, "PRESCHOOL" in large letters.

He opened the door quietly, and found a few parents in the room holding their little Muggle children. One of the girls there looked vaguely familiar, so he gave her a wink. She was a skinny thing, legs like sticks that were constantly swinging. And she was licking an ice cream cone.

Her eyes widened at the sight of him. "It's the evil murderer Sirius Black!" she shouted, giggling at the memory.

Damn. That same girl on the bench the day the Muggles spotted him. And still licking an ice cream cone. Of course, it wasn't the same one… or was it?

He stood, frozen. He could feel the parents' stares on him. Should he run? He'd been doing it long enough, and now was the perfect time to start up again-

The mother of the ice cream girl blushed madly and stood up, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I'm awfully sorry, she thinks she sees Sirius Black everywhere since they spotted him in the park a few weeks ago." The mother blushed an even deeper red. "And to think of accusing a perfectly respectable man as you, Monsieur Merlin…" She shook her head. "I hope she didn't hurt you in any way…"

Sirius forced himself to laugh uproariously. "Of course not," he said, patting the ice cream girl on the head. "I don't mind at all! I accused a few share of people in my time of being mass murderers…"

There were a few laughs at this and he loosened up. Ice cream girl wouldn't land him in Azkaban!

Momentary relief swept over him before another wave of anxiety crept behind him. Why were all the parents here anyway? Wasn't he just supposed to take the kids and let them color a picture or something?

"So… let's begin with class!" he said, giving a wide smile. None of the Muggles shared in this except for ice cream girl.

"Are you going to give a talk about what the year's going to be like?" offered a mother hesitantly.

"Uh…" Sirius's mind blanked. What was this? "No."

The adults exchanged glances before standing up and leaving. Good, good, good. Now he could be left alone with the brats and get this over with. It wasn't until everyone had left that he realized the children had gone along with the parents.

Damn.

No, now looking around, he saw two children had stayed. One was ice cream girl, and the other was a scared looking boy. This would be okay. This would be fine. Think about Harry. Think about Harry and how he will be so happy to see you.

"Okay," Sirius began, holding up a few crayons and a roll of toilet paper. "Who wants to color?"