I know, I'm awful. I'm so, so, so, so sorry! Please forgive me for my lack of updating lately. It SHOULD be getting better from this point on. I had a pass/fail exam last week that I was cramming for and I (literally) hadn't even turned my computer on during that time, because I was studying so much. But, alas, here it is…chapter 9!

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Please keep the reviews coming and, of course, read and enjoy!

The Hogsmeade trip came up quicker than I would have liked and, of course, I didn't end up with a date. Sirius was rather pleased with the fact that he won our little bet, though he was kind enough to repeal what he said about not signing off on the checklist unless it was a date for this specific trip.

I had a feeling that it had something to do with the fact that I was hopeless at talking to boys, let alone flirting with them, and he felt somewhat sorry for me. I really did try to find a date to Hogsmeade, even going out of my way to talk up Thomas Acker, a seventh year Hufflepuff in my NEWT Ancient Runes class.

The problem was that every time the upcoming Hogsmeade trip was mentioned, I changed the subject faster than you could say Hogsmeade, much to the chagrin of Sirius Black.

So on the morning of the first weekend of November trip, I rolled out of bed around the same time as Mary and Alice, carefully pretending to be asleep until Lily left the dormitory, before taking a quick shower and throwing on a pair of jeans, a gray sweater, and a pair of well-worn sneakers.

I jogged down the stairs, pushing aside the poster that Peter Pettigrew and James Potter had hung in the common room announcing the upcoming birthday of their best friend, Sirius. November 6th- the day after tomorrow.

"It'll be a good party to go to, I'm sure," Alice commented as we exited the common room and into the hallway. I took a moment to zip my jacket and don a pair of gloves, not wanting my hands to nearly contract frostbite like they almost did the winter before. "Sirius is turning eighteen this year. You should go, Haley, get it checked off on your list."

Mary nodded her head, choosing not to voice her opinion since she was still chewing on a piece of toast that she had taken from the Great Hall while I was getting ready for the trip.

I shrugged my shoulders, turning the corner toward the Grand Staircase. "Maybe I'll go, maybe I won't. Really depends on how much homework I'm able to get done during the week-"

"Oh come on, Haley," Mary whined, finally swallowing the toast, "It's your seventh year. Let loose a bit. I thought that was the point of the whole of your checklist."

I didn't have any reply to that, since she was right, so I decided not to say anything as we joined the line waiting for Filch, the newest caretaker, to check us all out of the castle. A few people ahead of us, James Potter and Remus Lupin were in a deep discussion, consulting a rather ragged piece of parchment while Peter Pettigrew looked onward, evidently keeping a close watch on the surroundings.

Sirius, who had undoubtedly found a date or two perhaps, was near the front of the line. Accompanied by a rather busty brunette, a sixth year from Ravenclaw, Sirius was getting thoroughly examined by Filch, who was eyeing him with both apprehension and mistrust.

I couldn't blame Filch one bit. It was only the week before when Sirius and James "accidently" transfigured his fingers into eating utensils. How they managed that one, I have no idea.

Lily and Dorcas were in line just after James and Remus. I was surprised, to say the least, that she had gotten so close to James by her own accord and that a fight hadn't started yet. But the day was still young. My jaw was nearly on the floor when she tapped James on the shoulder, attempting to engage him in a casual conversation, but he merely shrugged her off, turning back to the parchment with much more gusto than I would have anticipated.

The funny thing was- Lily seemed slightly put off.

I turned to Alice, who was biting her fingernails out of boredom, with a look of confusion plastered on my face.

"James is ignoring Lily now? When did this happen exactly?"

Alice shrugged her shoulders, ripping off a piece of her nail with a sickening snap. I inwardly cringed, not having ever gotten used to her bad habit, despite having lived with her for the past six years. "It's been happening for the past few days. He just stopped talking to her, then he stopped looking at her, then he stopped associating with her whatsoever. She's been trying to sidle up to him since Monday."

I pursed my lips, furrowing my brow into a look of interest. "I wonder why that happened."

Mary snorted, rolling her eyes playfully. "Don't act like you don't know."

My eyebrows shot up as we took a few steps forward. Out of the corner of my eye, James and Remus were being poked and prodded by the dark object detector Filch was handling. From the winces James was emitting, I could only assume that Filch was digging harder into his ribs than absolutely necessary, despite the fact that he was Head Boy.

"Are we patrolling tonight, James?" Lily asked politely, trying to catch him before he started to make his way toward the trail that led to the village. He turned to look over his shoulder, sending her a quick shrug.

"Erm, I'm actually patrolling with Remus tonight, sorry Lily." With that, he stuck his hands in his pockets and continued on his way, leaving Lily in a heap of confusion.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said quietly as Lily and Dorcas were allowed through the front doors, with minimal poking and prodding done by the caretaker. "Those two never tell me anything personal-"

Alice and Mary both chuckled, shaking their heads in exasperation. "No!" Alice said, turning to grin at me, "You know, because you did it!"

I racked my brain, trying to think back to the moment I had become a home-wrecking, dream-slaying idiot. "Okay, I definitely haven't drank anything yet, considering I have a pretty good memory of what's been happening since the beginning of the school year," I said slowly, still trying to pull up the memory of my James/Lily sabotage, "And I know that I haven't snogged James nor Lily-"

Mary let out a trill of laughter as Alice stepped forward, letting Filch scan her with the detector. "You are so ridiculous, Haley. She's talking about the day in potions when you completely tore into Lily about how she didn't deserve James! Ever since then, James has been paying no attention to her. Seems like you've really done a number on him, since it seems that he's listening to you…" She trailed off as she stepped forward, holding out her hands so Filch could run the probe over her jacket.

"He's not listening to me!" I laughed, taking my turn in line by holding out my arms. "I mean, he may be, I did have a chat with him in the library one day, but-"

"You what?" Alice and Mary screeched in unison, the three of us stepping through the front doors and into the cold, November air. I tightened the jacket around my chest, tucking my gloved hands into the pockets to ensure they wouldn't get cold this time around.

The wind whipped around the castle, loosening my curly hair from the messy bun at the base of my neck. A few locks wrapped around my face. I tried to turn toward the wind so my hair would naturally fall back into place, but the locks were stuck to my damp lips, forcing me to extract a hand from my jacket and physically tuck the hair back into the ponytail holder.

"It was more word vomit than anything!" I defended myself, shrugging my shoulders closer to my ears against the bitter cold. "I didn't mean to say it-"

"Didn't mean to say what exactly?"

We pushed onward quite a few feet, the dead leaves that had fallen from the trees circled around our feet, dancing in the swift wind. The gravel pathway crackled beneath our shoes as we neared the village. I could see, even from a distance, that The Three Broomsticks was already jam packed with people.

"I kind of told James that he needed to leave Lily alone," I shuffled guiltily under their piercing looks, "Listen, Sirius dragged James up to me in the library while I was studying- the boy announced his love for Lily over the megaphone after the quidditch match! How could I deny him any advice?"

Alice cracked a smile, tugging her hat tighter onto her head. "So your advice was for him to leave her alone? For someone who has never had their first boyfriend-"

"Let alone their first kiss," Mary interjected, throwing out her hands in disbelief. My chuckle was lost to the fierce winds that rang through our ears.

"-You are oddly astute to the happenings of a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship," Alice finished, nodding her head curtly. "Would that have something to do with all the time you're spending with Sirius? Someone finally have a crush on a boy?" She nudged me playfully in the ribs, causing me to fall off the trail a bit.

I let out a shriek of laughter. "No, definitely not." I paused to point toward the crowded pub. My two best friends nodded briskly in agreement. I rushed over and pulled open the heavy wooden door, ushering them inside before shutting it tightly behind me. "He is way too much of a womanizer for me," I nearly shouted to them over the noise that emitted from all directions in the small bar. "Besides, we never talk about anything like that. Our relationship is purely business. Think about it as remedial potions. We meet after classes, he teaches me about having a social life, we break some rules, we go our separate ways."

Alie laughed as Mary peeled off, snagging the opportunity to place a drink order with the newest barmaid, Rosmerta, who had just graduated from Hogwarts a mere three years ago. Rosmerta's messy curls were piled onto her head in an effort to keep them off her face as she worked; her brown dress was ragged and stained with all the food and drinks she made in a day's time. She smiled brightly at Mary, slamming three butterbeers onto the wooden counter.

Alice and I grabbed a high table, settling ourselves in just as the rush of students flew through the door like a stampede of wild hippogriffs. I sat back in my seat and watched, taking small sips of my warm drink in an effort to savor the sweet flavor.

"So you have to know something," Mary went on, obviously not done with the conversation from earlier, "and don't skimp on the details…but why exactly did Sirius decide to leave home? I mean, he comes from an incredibly rich, influential family-"

I furrowed my brow, glancing at her with an expression of utmost confusion. "What on earth are you talking about? Sirius left home?"

Mary goggled at me in disbelief. "You spend almost as much time with him as James Potter does and you didn't know that? Merlin, Haley, where the hell have you been these past few months. Even Alice over here knew that-"

"I knew what?" Alice interjected, pushing herself into the conversation.

"That Sirius Black left home and stayed with the Potter's all summer."

Alice took a swig of her butterbeer, shrugging her shoulders casually before answering. "Yeah, everyone knew that. Don't know how, considering he never talks about it, but rumor has it that he was disinherited and everything. I overheard Regulus talking about in the hallway with Mulciber between classes just last week."

I glanced around the pub, the usual sight of the four Marauders together catching my eye. James and Sirius were taking turns slinging charms at each other, much to the delight of the surrounding fourth year girls and Peter Pettigrew. James laughed aloud as Sirius transfigured his eyebrows into two carrots.

It surprised me more than anything else. The news, I mean. I never knew that he had run away from home. If I ran away from home, I know that I wouldn't be as happy go lucky as he is on a daily basis. I wouldn't be pulling pranks and laughing and having fun with my friends.

I would probably be curled up in the fetal position in a corner somewhere crying my eyes out, but that's just me. Even though my twin brother and I are usually bickering over something, I couldn't imagine him being out of my life.

Which got me thinking…it must have been considerably awkward for Sirius, since his brother was also attending Hogwarts. Granted, he was a sixth year Slytherin, but that didn't mean Sirius didn't see him around. As a matter of fact, I had never really seen Sirius talk to his brother at all over the last couple of months.

Usually they would have a quick chat in the Great Hall between meals or even a wave as they passed each other in the halls, but since the beginning of seventh year, Sirius and Regulus Black were set in keeping their distance from each other.

It must have been a terribly awful family feud.

"Haley? Haaaaaaley?" Alice sang as she snapped her fingers in front of my face. I quickly shook my head, turning my attention back to her. "Are you here, Haley? You seem to have lost yourself for a moment."

I smiled softly, taking another swig of my butterbeer. "I'm fine, just thinking, that's all."

After we finished our butterbeers, we made our way out of the heavily crowded pub and into the street, where flecks of snow were starting to fall from the clouded sky. They pecked at my face, stinging slightly as the wind hadn't quite died down yet. I pulled the hood of my jacket tighter onto my head as we made our way toward the Shrieking Shack, a tiny hut on the outskirts of the village. Rumor has it that a pair of particularly nasty ghouls lives in there, emitting screams and howls every so often.

I had personally never heard them. The Shrieking Shack gave me the creeps, but I sucked it up and followed Mary and Alice up the trail anyways, since it had been tradition for us to view the shack every trip since our third year of school.

"Just as eerie as I remember," Alice said as she placed her hands on the wooden fence that surrounded the shack. I stared over at it, a grimace on my face, as I half expected a ghoul face to pop up in one of the windows. "Not as big as I thought it was back in the third year."

Mary let out a squeak of agreement. Though a very brave quidditch player, Mary was never one for haunted houses, scary movies, or anything like that. She hated being frightened and usually heavily protested visiting the Shack, though she did so anyways.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

The three of us whipped around, surprised to see the four Marauders climbing up the hill, Sirius and James leading the pack. Peter was huffing and puffing a few feet away from Remus, clearly not in shape like the other three were.

"Checking another off the list, I see," Sirius said, sending a wink my way. I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms over my chest in an effort to battle the cold wind that thrashed around us.

"Actually," Alice responded, not taking her gloved hands off the fence, "We come up here every trip. Think of it as a tradition."

Sirius took a few steps forward, pulling out the folded parchment that I had come accustomed to carrying around with me. Though it took me a moment to realize that he, once again, had somehow gotten it into his possession.

"Hey! That was in my trunk! How did you get that?" I said, quite shrilly, as I wasn't quite sure that I wanted to hear the answer.

He shrugged casually, holding the parchment steady against the winds. "Stole it. Easy enough, anyways-"

Alice and Mary looked highly affronted, as they had finally realized that he was in the same room as all of their belongings as well. They glared at him, crossing their arms over their chests, not because of the weather, but as an effort to make themselves look more menacing. I have to admit, it worked much better for them than it did for little ol' me.

"How did you get up there?"

"You have no right-"

"You DUG through my TRUNK?"

James let out snorts of laughter as Remus stayed in the shadows, obviously not wanting to contribute to this conversation. Considering he probably knew it was happening and either a) didn't bother trying to stop it or b) didn't want to stop it, staying quiet was probably the best bet for him at that particular moment.

Sirius let out a bark of laughter. "It's not like a dug through everyone's trunk, just Haley's. And I didn't even dig through your trunk. I like to put it as skimming the surface. Except-" he paused, turning to his coat pocket, sticking his hand in and rummaging around for a moment- "I have to say, Haley, I definitely didn't peg you for this particular kind."

He tossed over a piece of fabric and I caught it clumsily in my glove-clad hands. It took me a moment to respond, as I was caught gawking in pure embarrassment at what he had just tossed over. Lacy, black underwear. My lacy, black underwear. I balled them in my fist and shoved them into my jacket pocket, my face flaming red.

"You—I—Sirius Black!" I managed to stutter out, glaring up at him despite the mortification I was feeling. He had taken my underwear. He clearly had it throughout the whole trip. In his jacket pocket. I wished for the Earth to swallow me whole at that very second.

"Classy, very classy, Black," James reprimanded his best friend, though I could tell it was fake, as he was trying to stifle a hoot of laughter. Sirius grinned at James.

"Shouldn't you be treating these ladies with respect," Remus groaned as he finally interjected his opinion into the conversation, "Instead of stealing her underwear from her trunk and bringing it with you to Hogsmeade?"

Sirius waved off his other best friend, shooting him another grin as well. You could never fight with Sirius Black, as he always had some form of argument or retort ready. "Anyways, I couldn't help but notice that you have breaking into the Shrieking Shack on your list of things to do," he threw another heart-stopping smile at me, his gray eyes glimmered with excitement, "Are you ready?"

"Erm- ready for what?"

Sirius smirked, the excitement still in his eyes. "To break into the Shrieking Shack, of course."

My eyes widened as I tossed them between the haunted shack and Sirius, who was quivering with anticipation by this point. "How exactly are we going to get in? I thought all of the windows and doors were boarded over?"

"Found a way in during fourth year," he shrugged. He grabbed onto my shoulders and turned me around so I was facing the shack. He pointed over my shoulder to the third window on the right side of the house. "We figured out that charm was a little weaker than the others. We were able to break through it in three Hogsmeade trips. Now we can go in and out of the shack at our pleasure." I glanced over my shoulder at him and I couldn't help but notice the boyish grin, the sharp cologne, his beautiful gray eyes… a chill went down my spine, spreading quickly to the site where his hands were still resting gently on my shoulders.

Oh Merlin, what is happening to me?

"Haley? Haley, are you ready?"

I quickly shook myself out of my thoughts, focusing on the task in front of me. "No, no not today," I shook my head forcefully, "Definitely not ready for that."

"And why not?"

"I don't like haunted houses," I murmured and, to my surprise, Sirius let out a bark of laughter.

"Oh fine, Brams, we'll go another time." He let go of my shoulders, much to my dismay, and turned to follow the Marauders back down the steep hill. "But don't think that I'll forget, because breaking you into the Shrieking Shack is now my top priority."

I grinned at him, no longer embarrassed or upset at the fact that he stole my lacy underwear from my trunk. In fact, something stirred deep inside me at the thought.

And it confused me more than anything.