"It's too early for romance, Harry," Sirius said, sipping his coffee. "At least wait until this summer's over and you're in your second year."
His cup had originally held beer, but guzzling alcohol in front of Harry would clearly damage his image as a godfather, so he had fished a bag of sweetened coffee from Honeydukes out of Hagrid's pocket.
Brian's cup held the same stuff-it had been a free gift when Hagrid bought sweets last month. The poor freebies had spent a month shut up in a coat pocket after leaving the cosy shop.
Hagrid had switched to honey milk-perhaps with some brandy and gin mixed in. His cup had not been washed since that afternoon. At the moment, he was patrolling the Forbidden Forest with his cup, his lantern and, of course, Fang.
"Huh? Cough-" Harry's eyes widened as he choked on his hot black tea. He took Hagrid's handkerchief and coughed several times before saying, "Wait, Sirius, when did I ever say I wanted to date anyone?"
"You said it the moment you walked in-'Did I go a bit too far on the pitch today?' Honestly, I'm not exaggerating,
"you looked as though you were the one who'd lost today," Sirius said with a smile.
The black tea in Harry's hand nearly spilled. He stammered,
"Th-that-I don't know what that has to do with dating-you've got the wrong idea, Sirius. I only said that because,
"because Cho Chang looked frightened at the time-competition is one thing, but I-I don't want to hurt anyone over a match!"
Sirius pretended to see the light. "Oh, so that's what it was."
"Exactly. That's all." Harry nodded, blushing, his tone entirely that of someone trying to convince himself. "So-um, so I really did go too far, then?"
"I don't think it