That night, a tropical bird arrived in Harry's room at Hermione's house. It had a letter that said,
Dear Harry,
I've just received your letter that says you took my advice about talking to Hermione, and about Grimmauld Place. As far as the picture of my mother goes, thanks for allowing me to burn the portrait myself. I think it might be a good idea if we can communicate faster than every few days. You may have already written me since the letter I'm responding to. I had a set of two-way mirrors that I used to speak with your father through. They're probably in my vault, but you don't have access to it. There's a book that used to be in a desk in the second biggest bedroom called, "Matlock's Magical Means of Communications," that explains the spell. I've got a mirror here that's charmed to respond to, 'Snuffles.' I'll keep that with me. Hopefully, you'll get a mirror charmed to work with it soon.
Sirius
P.S. Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, I, Sirius Black invite you to my home at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
"Wow," responded Harry, after reading the letter. He got up, walked to Hermione's room, and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" Hermione's voice called through the door.
"Harry, I got a letter from Sirius."
"Really? Hold on a minute. I'm changing."
"Are you sure I can't come in?" asked Harry playfully.
"Positive. Was he just responding to the first letter, or to more than one of them?"
"Just the first. It's got your invitation to the house."
The door opened, revealing Hermione in a light blue pajama outfit.
Harry smiled, "It was worth the wait."
Hermione blushed. "Come in, but don't close the door. I don't want my parents to get the wrong idea."
"All right," agreed Harry, stepping into the room. "Here's the letter from Sirius."
He handed it to her and she went through it quickly, smiling as she read. "Brilliant," she commented. "I remember testing that book for curses the other day. It's still in the desk. I don't know why I didn't think of it!"
"I guess I know what we'll be doing tomorrow," replied Harry. "I still think it's funny that he burned his mum's portrait."
"Can you blame him?" asked Hermione, smirking.
"Not with that woman," he responded, "She'd drive him insane. She'd be worse than the Dementors."
"I guess so," said Hermione. "If we're getting up at six, we'd better go to bed now."
"Goodnight, Hermione."
She gave him a quick kiss. "Goodnight,"
-ASM-
They got up and did their morning exercises, ending up at Grimmauld Place at 7:45. Ginny wasn't there yet, so they immediately went to the correct bedroom to get the book. When they looked in the bedroom, they saw that Ginny had already redecorated it. It had light brown carpet with light green walls. The queen-size four-poster bed had a dark green blanket over it, with matching bed curtains. There was a wooden desk that appeared to have recently been sanded down and refinished. It was hard to believe it was the same old black desk that they'd seen just a few days ago. Hermione opened the drawer to find…nothing.
"What?" exclaimed Hermione, panicking that a book was missing. "It was just here!"
"Relax Mione," said Harry. "She probably just emptied the desk when she worked on it."
"But where would Ginny put it?" asked Hermione.
"Put what?" called Ginny's voice from the doorway.
Harry turned to her and greeted, "Good morning, Ginny. We were just looking for a book that was in this desk."
"You mean the magical communications book," Ginny asked.
"Yes," answered Hermione, almost looking desperate.
"I burned it," replied Ginny, smirking.
"YOU BURNED A BOOK!" screamed Hermione, causing Ginny to start laughing hysterically.
"I'm just kidding, Hermione. I just put it in another room while I was working on the desk. Relax," said Ginny, causing Harry to start chuckling.
"Do you think it's funny, Mr. Potter?" asked Hermione.
"I think your reaction is funny, Mione," answered Harry. "It's just a book. If it were missing, we could buy another one. You were acting like it was the end of the world. Ginny, could you get that book, please?"
"Sure, Harry," replied Ginny, still chuckling at Hermione.
"By the way, Ginny, you did a good job on this room, especially that old desk. It looks brand new."
Ginny blushed, "Thanks. It's just a matter of finding the right charms." She left the room.
"Harry, since when are you calling me, 'Mione?'"
"Since today," answered Harry, "Why?"
"Truthfully, I don't like it," she stated.
"Then what should I call you, 'Herms?'"
She chuckled, "No. I happen to like being referred to by my name."
He sighed. "If that's what you want, Hermione. That is a pretty name."
"Thanks," said Hermione.
"Here's the book," Ginny called as she reentered the room.
Hermione grinned broadly and took the book. "Now Harry, you study what we planned while I study this. Hopefully we'll be able to talk to Sirius soon."
"Talk to Sirius?" asked Ginny.
"Yeah," explained Harry. "He wants us to make a two-way mirror with information from that book. He's already got one."
"I'll bet you'll like being able to talk to him, Harry," commented Ginny.
"Yeah, it'll be great!" agreed Harry. "Well, I'd better get to studying."
"And I've still got more rooms to do," stated Ginny.
They both left Hermione alone with the book.
-ASM-
About an hour later, Hermione came bursting into the practice room to find Ginny in there magically painting. "Hi, Ginny. Where's Harry?" she asked.
"I believe Harry is in the kitchen reading."
"Thanks." Hermione ran out of the room toward the kitchen.
She saw him sitting on a chair with a book, so she snuck up behind him and put her hands over his eyes. "Guess who?" she asked.
"Pansy, oh Pansy how I've missed you!" replied Harry, earning a punch in the shoulder from Hermione. "Ouch!" said Harry, chuckling.
"I was going to let you talk to Sirius, but if you want to pretend you're in love with Pansy Parkinson, maybe…"
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, Hermione."
She smiled and produced a small mirror. "Just look at it and say, 'Snuffles'"
He took the mirror and uncertainly said, "Snuffles"
The mirror clouded up, and within a few seconds, Sirius' image appeared in it. "Hi, Harry," he greeted.
"Hi, Sirius, it's good to see you," stated Harry, happily.
"It's good to see you, too, cub. How have you been doing? Hermione says you're dating now."
Harry blushed, "Er, yeah."
"So, do you, er, have any questions, er about that?" asked Sirius uncertainly.
"Actually," replied Harry, "Her father gave me, 'the talk' a few days ago."
"Your girlfriend's father? I'll bet you wanted to run away from that."
Harry smiled, "I remember wishing for a Death Eater attack to rescue me from that conversation."
Sirius laughed. "So, anything else I should know about?"
"Well, she and I are enrolled in a muggle karate class. The first day we found out we had class with Neville Longbottom."
Sirius looked surprised, "The same class? That is a coincidence."
"Yeah. By the way, I have Ginny Weasley redecorating the place, you know, new paint and new carpet. She's doing a good job, too."
"Good," replied Sirius, "Hopefully it won't look like Voldemort's evil lair anymore."
"Can we do magic outside the house, or just inside? We'd like to clean up the outside walls."
"Sorry pup, you can only do magic inside. Maybe you can get Remus to do the outside."
"How do I find him?" asked Harry.
"I'll ask Dumbledore," replied Sirius. "What else are you learning besides muggle defense?"
-ASM-
Harry explained everything that he and Hermione were studying, and chatted with him awhile, eventually having him personally invite Ginny to the house so that the door would open for her. When he asked about the floo, Sirius said that it worked exactly the same as the door. "If you've been invited by me, it'll let you in. Otherwise, you wind up in Diagon Alley. My family thought it was better than having someone trapped on the floo network for the ministry to find. It's a lot funnier if someone keeps trying and trying, and ends up at the Leaky Cauldron every time."
Eventually, Harry had to let go of Sirius to continue his training with Hermione, who informed him that she'd made another mirror for herself. "I told Sirius that your mirror is 'Little Prongs' and mine is 'Hermione Granger.'"
Harry looked at Hermione in disbelief, "Little Prongs? Why couldn't it be like yours?"
She looked at him like he was stupid. "Do you want everyone who knows your name to be able to bother you on your mirror?"
Harry chuckled, "I guess not."