AN: Enjoy! Oh and I don't own HP!

Chapter 7

The five of us spend the next few hours hanging out in the forest. It's a bit odd, what with them staying in their animal forms, but fun nonetheless. We walk through the woods until we encounter two full grown unicorns. Prongs, or James, surprises me by running up to them and prancing around, trying to get them to play. Wormtail jumps onto Padfoot's back just before the big, black dog begins to chase after them. Not to be outdone, Moony snatches me up onto his back and lumbers after the lot of them.

We chase the unicorns for the better part of an hour before the boys begin to grow bored with this game. Prongs comes to a stop near a stream deep in the seemingly endless forest. Moony drops me onto the grass as gently as he can. Still, I land with a thud and sit there for a minute, dazed. A cross between short barking and wheezing escapes Padfoot's mouth; I guess that's what a dog's laugh sounds like. The other three let out various animal laughs as well, and I brush myself off and get up, rolling my eyes.

We all make our way over to the stream, and the boys each take a long drink. A sudden growl startles me, and I whip my head around to see Padfoot up in Moony's face, trying to get him to play as the werewolf lazily swats at his friend. This lasts for awhile – until Prongs stands up and starts sniffing the air. The others take note and do the same. Padfoot obviously catches wind of something because he lets out a short bark and runs even deeper into the forest, following the stream.

Wormtail jumps onto Prongs' back as Moony lifts me onto his again, and we are off on another chase. I wish I knew just what it was we were chasing, but it would be pretty stupid to ask them right now when they can't exactly give me an answer. I've lost sight of Padfoot, but the other three must be able to hear him because they continue to run after him. After what seems like forever, we catch up to him. He's standing absolutely still on the edge of the clearing that we first came to. His body is lowered to the ground, his ears forward. One of them twitches as we approach.

We stop several meters away from Padfoot and wait. There's movement in the clearing ahead of him. In the faint moonlight, I make out the shape of a cloaked figure. Worried about getting caught, I try my best to hide my face behind Moony's back, while still peering out at the mysterious stranger. I don't think that he or she has any idea that the five of us are anywhere nearby, but I still don't understand why Padfoot would chase after a person and risk getting caught. Then again, why would a human be wandering around the ForbiddenForest in the wee hours of the morning?

Moony sets me down – quietly this time – , and Wormtail jumps off of Prongs' back. Padfoot is still staring down the cloaked figure, so Prongs silently walks behind a large tree and nods to me. I tip-toe towards him as he transforms back into a human and pulls the folded invisibility cloak from his back pocket.

"Here," he whispers as he begins to drape it around my shoulders. "I don't know if it's a professor or not, but I don't want to risk you getting caught. We've got the map. You take the cloak, and stay completely covered. We're close enough to the castle now for you to find your way back, I think. We'll draw the person deeper into the forest, and you walk straight to the other end of the clearing and keep walking in a straight line until you get to the edge of the forest."

He starts to pull the cloak over my head so that it's covering me entirely, but I stop him with my hand on his arm. "James," I whisper, worry filling me over this strange encounter with the mysterious person. "Be careful. What if it's one of his followers?"

He doesn't have to ask to know that I'm referring to Voldemort, the dark wizard who is currently on a rise to power and is gaining more and more dark followers to do his bidding. James puts his hands on my shoulders and looks me in the eye. "We'll be careful; I promise. Now go, before you're seen."

I do as I'm told and pull the cloak over my face until my entire body is invisible. He resumes his stag form and joins the others. I notice that Padfoot hasn't shifted positions, and the stranger is still in the clearing, sitting now to heal a bloody scrape on the ankle with magic. It strikes me as odd that a human could outrun Padfoot. However, I don't have time to dwell on this because Padfoot – having heard my conversation with James via his super dog hearing – now makes his move by creeping around to the opposite side of the clearing and barking loudly. In an instant, the hooded figure turns into a puff of black smoke and speeds away. The four boys race after it, leaving me to find my way back to the castle.

After about five minutes of following James's instructions, I stumble out of the forest as the sun is rising. Is it really that late already? I hurry back toward the Slytherin dormitories without encountering anyone in the corridors. Remaining concealed under the cloak, I sneak into the common room. No one's there. I figured as much; it's only five or six on a Saturday morning. I remove the cloak as I make my way up the stairs and into my room. Luckily for me, Andromeda and the other girls don't stir as I climb into bed.

I lay awake thinking. What a night this has been! Between a declaration of love (and a kiss) from James Potter, finding out he and his friends transform into animals, and encountering a strange, hooded figure that turns into black smoke, I have a lot to think about. Something about that mysterious stranger seems off to me. If he or she could turn into black smoke in the blink of an eye, why not just float out of the forest to get away from us? Did he or she want Padfoot to chase him or her for some reason? Yawning and telling myself that I'll think about it tomorrow, I roll over and am asleep before I have time to do any more worrying over the night's events.

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"Come on, Bella! Get up! Let's go!" begs Andromeda. I manage to open my eyes the tiniest bit, so that they're little slits. She's already dressed and ready to go to Hogsmeade. Oh, that's today! I'm supposed to go with her for butterbeer and to meet Ted, the Gryffindor guy that she's so crazy about. I try to get up and find that I'm very sluggish this morning. Why won't my eyes stay open? I feel like I only got a few hours of sleep. Maybe all of those vivid dreams kept me from getting enough rest. I remember now; we were in the woods. It was Sirius and me…and James Potter. No, it's all coming back now – definitely not a dream.

Feeling Andromeda's concerned eyes boring into me and taking in my exhausted state, I try to divert her attention. "What time are we going to Hogsmeade?" I ask, throwing on some clothes and throwing my wild curls into a ponytail.

She gives up her intense scrutiny for the moment and sighs. "As soon as you're ready," she replies. "It's already half past noon."

Half past noon? Wow. I slip on my new raven pendant and hastily shove some money in my pocket. "Ready to go!" I announce, doing my best to seem awake.

She isn't fooled in the least. "Aren't you forgetting something?" she asks pointedly.

What's she going on about now? "No…don't think so," I say, looking around quickly.

Andromeda leans over and pulls out my wand from its usual place in my nightstand drawer. How could I be so stupid as to forget my wand? I'm dead on my feet, that's how. I take it from her with a sheepish, "Thanks," and hurry out the door before she can say anything. I'm not entirely ready to tell her about last night just yet. Where would I even begin?

She doesn't press the matter any further as we walk to Hogsmeade. Instead, her excitement at my meeting Ted seems to fill her with a new bubbling energy, and she's practically skipping down the pathway. When we finally reach The Three Broomsticks, Ted is already waiting at a table. As soon as we walk over to him, he stands up, pulls my twin into a tight embrace, and gives her a kiss that's bordering on inappropriate for a public establishment. Wow.

I clear my throat. "Still here!" I'm thinking to myself. Andromeda breaks off, mid-kiss and turns to look at me, her face reddening in obvious embarrassment – for her or for me, I can't really decide.

"This is Ted," she begins introductions. "Ted, this is my sister, Bellatrix!" Andromeda looks to me expectantly, obviously waiting for me to make some friendly gesture. I do a quick appraisal of her new boy obsession. He's taller than her but not very tall – muscular, though. His sandy blonde hair is long and shaggy, falling into his laughing, gray eyes. It takes me all of two seconds to decide that I don't like those mocking eyes.

"Nice to meet you, Bellatrix," he offers me a large, calloused hand, and I remember my sister saying something about him playing Quidditch. I do my best to shake off the bad vibes and shake his hand with all the politeness I can manage.

"You, too, Ted," I return. I can feel my sister's eyes on me. She's probably wondering why I'm not opening up more…why I'm not saying something along the lines of, "Call me Bella." I can't help it. There's something I just don't like about this kid.

The three of us sit down and order our drinks. We talk over butterbeers for an hour or two, and it gives me a chance to notice a few things. First, Andy and Ted sit across the table from me, and it's obvious that they simply can't keep their hands off of each other. How long have they been dating? Two weeks? Maybe that?

Then, I notice something that really bothers me. Not only is Ted very quiet, but he doesn't look at me or my sister – not in the eye, anyway. He doesn't contribute to the conversation but holds Andromeda and stares at her lips – like he wishes he could just keep snogging her to his heart's content. Talk about awkward. Between that, burying his face in her hair, and taking a drink here and there, he doesn't say much. I've decided why it is that I don't care a bit for this Gryffindor: it seems like he's using my sister for her body. What a pig.

After awhile, Andromeda suggests going over to Zonko's Joke Shop, but I decline, saying that I have to start working on a big paper due for Monday. My sister seems disappointed but agrees that I should probably head back. "Well I'm so glad that you got to come," she says, standing up. "I'm going to find the loo, and then we can go," she adds to Ted.

"I know where it is," I lie, getting up. "I'll come with you…probably need to fix my lipstick anyway." We leave Ted at the table, and (luckily for me) I quickly find the loo. Thankfully, no one else is inside, so I decide to go ahead and get it over with. "I'm sorry, Andy, but I honestly don't like Ted."

"What? Why?" She seems so surprised. Great. She likes him so much that she's blind to what he's doing.

"I hate to say it," I begin, "but I think he's using you. He didn't care anything about talking to you the entire time; he just wanted to snog you to death!"

I can see the frown lines forming on her face as her features shift into a scowl. "Really, Bella! Just because you've never had a boyfriend! That's what couples do – they snog – as much as they want."

"And there's nothing wrong with that!" I backpedal. "It's just that he seems like he cares more about that side of the relationship than about you as a person. I don't want to see you get hurt, Andy."

"Well, you won't," she replies firmly, "because he's a good guy…no matter what you think." With that, she turns on her heel and huffs out of the room. I follow her out the door, but she hurries out of the pub with Ted, leaving me to watch them go and ponder this unexpected turn of events.

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