Disclaimer: The only character I own is Sookie; the rest belong to JK Rowling. The song belongs to Nat King Cole.

"Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Those days of soda and pretzels and beer
Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
You'll wish that summer could always be here."

Sirius shifted uncomfortably, shoving his hands into his jeans. It felt so strange to be on the receiving end of the Hogwarts Express. It wasn't anything he'd experienced before. In fact, the last time he remembered being on Platform 9 ¾ was the June after his 7th year. He felt a brief pang as he remembered emerging off of the scarlet steam engine, joking with James, Remus . . . and Peter, their futures stretching out so brightly before them. He shook off the thought and stared around at the other parents around him. He was one of them; his days of pranks and patently plagiarized essays were over. He'd gotten the afternoon off and had a surprise for Harry and Remus that he thought the younger wizard would find particularly appealing.

"Sirius!" Arthur Weasley greeted, waving at the auror jovially.

"Hello Arthur. How are you?" Sirius greeted with a genuine smile. His wife could be a pill sometimes but you'd be hard pressed to find more than a handful of people who didn't like Arthur Weasley.

"Can't complain, can't complain. Percy, our third, he's graduated, Head Boy. Molly's fit to bust."

"Congratulations! What's he planning on doing?"

"He's gotten a job with Barty Crouch at the Ministry. It's become a bit of a family tradition. Our eldest Bill works for the Ministry too. How are you? Excited to have Harry back?"

"Yes, yes I am."

"Good. I was actually wondering if you were planning on going to the World Cup this summer."

"Yes, I got tickets a few weeks ago."

"Oh good, maybe we could share a campground. I just wanted to ask because if you weren't planning on going, I can usually get tickets. Ludo Bagman has promised me top box tickets this year."
"Oh," Sirius said, his heart falling a bit. "Well I've gotten nothing like that."

"I'm sure Harry would rather watch the game with you. Or, if you'd like, I can try to get Hermione and Ron tickets in your section."

"Oh, you don't need to do that!" Sirius exclaimed. The last thing he wanted was deprive anyone of such prize tickets, least of all Harry.

"Oh, it'll be no problem. I doubt Hermione's very interested anyway, from what Ron says and Ron would rather see the game with Harry anyway. I think Ludo would be relieved not to have to reserve eleven. Just owl me your seat numbers. I think the train's coming in. I'll look forward to seeing you at the match."

Yep, Arthur Weasley was a hard one to dislike. Sirius swallowed his embarrassment and plastered on a smile as the train rushed into the station. Harry and Remus emerged. Harry had grown since Christmas. He was taller and, if possible, ganglier than ever. Remus joined Sirius, giving him a friendly clap on the shoulder. Harry waved goodbye to Hermione, Ron and the rest of the Weasleys before joining the two older men. Sirius and Harry stood awkwardly before Sirius pulled him into a loose, tentative hug. They parted, averting their eyes. Sirius promised himself he would try to get better at the hugging thing but . . . he was English.

They arrived home after a quick stop at Quality Quidditch Supplies where Sirius picked up a couple of little homecoming presents. He and Harry took a spin in on their motorcycles; Harry was actually quite good, something even Remus had to admit. That wasn't to say he approved. They sat down to a take-out dinner and Sirius passed both Harry and Remus matching packages. They pulled back the wrapping, Harry with a celebratory woop! And Remus with a more subdued "Thanks".

"I love it!" Harry exclaimed, pulling the Irish jersey over his head.

"I'm glad because that leads me to the next piece of news," Sirius paused for dramatic effect, trying not to think about Arthur and his top-box tickets. "I've gotten us three tickets to the World Cup!"

"No way!" Remus exclaimed. "That's amazing Sirius; I heard they were sold out a month ago!"

"I've had them for two months now," Sirius exclaimed, grinning.

"Thanks Sirius!" Harry smiled. "I have to run and owl Ron, tell him his Dad doesn't need to get me a ticket. Do you think we'll be sitting near them?"

"I don't know," Sirius answered guiltily.

"Harry, maybe you should finish your supper. You can always owl Ron tomorrow," Remus said calmly, noticing the look on Sirius' face.

"Oh . . . right." He fell silent and sat back down, taking a perfunctory bite of low mein. "So Sirius, how's work?"

"It's good, busy," Sirius replied. "I should bring you by the office some time this summer, if you still want to be an auror that is." Harry nodded enthusiastically.

"Well his DADA grades are certainly high enough!" Remus said proudly, ruffling Harry's already messy hair.

"Yes, are there any shoddy marks I should be worried about?" Sirius asked with mock-seriousness.

Harry's insides squirmed uncomfortably. He'd never really had to show his end-of-year marks to anyone. If the Dursleys had even opened his school reports, they hadn't said anything. He supposed that all kids his age worried about showing their marks to their parents. "Well . . . I'm still not great shots at Potions."

"I'm not surprised with a git like Snape teaching you!"

"Sirius," Remus warned, shooting his friend a look. Sirius gave him a look right back, one that seemed to say: "Yeah, and what are you going to do about it?" Before the stare-off could progress, the door bell rang. Sirius got up to answer it but before he could get there, the door burst open. They all reached for their wands but the person who came in wasn't a Death Eater . . . just a dowdy-looking American.

"Sookie! You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Sirius exclaimed, pocketing his wand.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, have you turned on the TV?"

"No, I've just been to London to-"

"Then you're not watching the game right now?"

"No . . . obviously." Sookie finally caught her breath and looked around the kitchen.

"Oh! I forgot you all were coming home today," she said pleasantly. But Remus and Harry didn't answer. They were too busy starring at Sirius who had neglected to mention that the "damn American" was now his friend.

"Well, we're kind of in the middle of eating so . . . " Sirius trailed off and Sookie's smile faded slightly.

"Right, I'll come back another day. It's nice to see you again Harry, and Remus." They both nodded silently. After Sookie left there was an awkward silence . . . that Sirius finally broke.

"So Sookie and I are friends now."

"Obviously," Remus put in smoothly. "And what, pray tell, do friends like you two do exactly?"

"We're just friends," Sirius replied through gritted teeth, glaring at his friend. "I'm not exactly her type."

"Oh really, and what type would that be?" Remus asked. Sirius cocked his eyebrows. "Oh," Remus finished lamely.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, looking quizzically between the two. Sirius sometimes forgot how young Harry was.

"Well, you see, Sookie is what we call, a, well she's interested in, um, Remus?"

"Sookie doesn't like men," Remus answered, blushing to the roots of his hair.

"She's a lesbian?" Harry asked. The two men fell silent, their eyebrows raised. "What, I wasn't always at Hogwarts; I'm not totally clueless."

"I see," Sirius smiled despite himself.

"So you and Sookie are friends? How did that happen?" Harry asked.

"Well it started with another petition. Then we started seeing each other around town. It happened kind of gradually, I guess. Neither of us know any other wizards who live nearby and I don't really know anyone else in St. Andrews. She comes over to watch rugby sometimes, borrow sugar . . . "

"Sugar?" Remus snorted.

"Ugh! You're impossible? How was the rest of your term professor?"

"It was fine thanks. I can't believe it was a whole year!"

"It sped by, this year did. So, who wants cake?"

The three finished their evening over a game of chinese checkers and chocolate cake. Remus and Harry, who had both had late nights and early starts, were in bed by eleven. Sirius sent an owl to Arthur Weasley with his seat numbers and finished up some paperwork. It was nice to have people in the house again. Truth be told, he and Sookie spent a lot more time together than he let on. Before Azkaban, he'd always been surrounded by friends. It just felt unnatural to be alone, not to mention, it reminded him of the worst twelve years of his life. Selfishly, he wished that Remus could get a job somewhere in London. He was a little jealous that Remus and Harry shared a world he had little part of.

At one, he decided it was time to be off to bed. Moody had only given him a day off and he needed to be in the office early, especially if he wanted to work off enough time for the World Cup. He'd also been thinking about a little trip to the beach, Normandy maybe. His family had taken a holiday there when he was nine; it had been the best time he'd had with them, though that wasn't saying much.

The next few days passed quickly. Harry and Remus had taken to sleeping in till Merlin knew when. All Sirius knew was that they still looked vaguely bleary eyes when he got home at half six. On Thursday, Sirius walked into a wonderful smell. "Who ordered curry?" he asked, setting his bag down on the hall table.

"Nobody ordered it!" Harry replied from the kitchen. "We've invited Sookie for supper."

"Oh," Sirius replied, walking into the kitchen. Remus was leaning against the counter, a beer at his lips. Sookie was standing over the stove, stirring a simmering pot of curry. Harry was sitting at the table, popping peanuts into his mouth. "When was this decided?" he asked, pulling a beer out of the refrigerator.

"Well Harry and I just thought we'd better get to know your friends Sirius, didn't we Harry?" Remus replied, his eyes sparkling mischievously.

"Mmhmm," Harry grinned.

"We had only met once before," Sookie reasoned. "And you weren't very nice that night."

"Well you weren't very . . . you were really annoying that night," Sirius shot back lamely. Sookie snorted.

"They called me and asked if I'd like to come around for supper. I said that I'd already promised to cook you dinner since you did it last time so I offered curry, and here we are."

"Sounds good to me."

"It should be done in a half hour or so. Oh, and look, Mock the Week is on!" she said brightly. "Let's rot our brains shall we?"

The rest of the evening was quite pleasant Sirius thought. Sookie could be a bit annoying at times, a bit over-eager, but her heart was in the right place. She'd helped Sirius deal with the loneliness of the past few months and Sirius hoped he'd helped her too, comforting her through breakups, homesickness, school-related stress, money-related stress, etc. They discussed plans for Harry's upcoming Birthday, school, politics, anything that came into their heads. It was almost like having a real family, Harry thought.

After Sookie left, Sirius was working on the dishes when a small, tired, old owl flew through the window. He sat the poor creature on the table with some owl treats and water before retrieving the letter. It was from Arthur.

Sirius,

Ludo wasn't able to get the top box tickets so all of us will be sitting with you, Harry, and Professor Lupin, that is, unless you object. I don't know if you have a tent but I'm borrowing two from my co-worker and you all are welcome to share them with us. Send word at your earliest convenience!
Sincerely,

Arthur Weasley

The day kept getting better. He couldn't wait to tell Harry the news though, if the past was any evidence, he wouldn't get to tell him because Ron would have beaten him to chase. As if in answer, he heard a slightly muted "woop" from Harry's room. He smiled to himself. This would be a summer to remember, much better than the one before. He went to bed, thoroughly satisfied and happy to once again have a full house.

A/N: This was quick wasn't it! It hasn't even been a week. Well, it's a bit short but the next chapter should include the World Cup . . . and y'all know what that means. Anywho, I just wanted to say that I love Arthur; he reminds me a little bit of my dad and, by the way, Ludo definitely could have gotten the top box tickets. PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!