Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any sort of profit from this hobby.

Author's Note: The lovely Miss Beatlechicksteph made this chapter so much more readable. She's awesome, truly awesome.

Chapter 12

Hermione Granger had all reason to grieve the fragile relationship with Sirius, Remus and James, as it became apparent as early as the next day how angry they still were with her, and how suspicious they thought her very presence to be. Worse was the hostility that practically radiated from Sirius Black. He spent all his time purposely ignoring her completely, and if he even accidentally happened to lay his eyes on her, there was more often than not real anger in them, along with that hint of a dark, almost hateful gaze.

In Sirius' defense, after having seen Hermione use the warding technique only members of the Black Family should have known about, and after the treatment he'd gotten from his mother the very same day, he had all right to be suspicious. Sirius had come to truly believe that she had something to do with the woman he despised more than anything, and was now on an immediate lookout for more treachery on Hermione's part.

He had written a very short message to Walburga Black, consisting of nothing more than one sentence, but one that he thought should tell her exactly how he felt about the whole situation:

Go ahead and remove me from the blasted tapestry, as I no longer consider myself belonging to the family.

S.B

There hadn't been an answer yet, but Sirius could very well guess how Mrs. Black would react to the letter. He didn't doubt that he wouldn't be able to return to Grimmauld Place ever again, and that his mother would change the wards to not let him in if he ever tried to. Black wards were kept secret for a reason – they were the best – and he surely wouldn't have a chance to take them down if she were to choose some of the more obscure ones. But Sirius didn't mind. He had everything of value to him with him at Hogwarts any way, and the house in London was only considered to be the space where he had to spend the summers. He also knew that he would be taken out of the old bat's will, and that the large inheritance, that under usual forms would fall upon him on his twentieth birthday, would be no more.

He couldn't care less.


Hermione went to see Dumbledore first thing in the early morning. She told him the news that the Gryffindor boys had found out about her secret room with its potion brewing space, and that they now thought of her as some kind of traitor or spy. Her voice cracked during her telling of the story, and Dumbledore could very well see how upset she was by the fact that she had lost the confidence of the ones she so recently had started to consider friends again.

"Hmm," he hummed, slowly rapping his finger on the desk while studying the upset witch in front of him.

The gloriously red phoenix, Fawkes, sat perched upon his branch by the sunlit window, chirping quietly. It was always uncanny how the intelligent bird seemed to get into the very core of people. The bird's immediate acceptance of the girl when she first came to the castle had been one of the reasons Dumbledore trusted her so. Fawkes' judgement carried great value, and Dumbledore now got the feeling that the phoenix aimed its soft noises towards Hermione and her sorrow, trying to console.

"Well," he started. "Perhaps this was a sign, telling us that it is time to push ourselves forward a little, bring up some of our plans a bit further?"

He looked at Hermione, who seemed confused. "Sir?"

Dumbledore smiled.

"We already knew that Misters Potter, Black and Lupin would come to join us sooner or later, and I think this could be as good a moment as any to tell them a little more about the Order. What do you think?"

Hermione sat silent, wringing her hands without noticing. Then she looked up. "I guess some things could be explained to them. They have pretty much already worked out that something is going on, and I don't think the existence of the Order would come as a surprise to them. Would you allow them to join?"

"I don't think that will be necessary at the moment, and I also believe the young men will understand. For now, it is important to make them feel like they're 'in the loop', as they say." He smiled at her.

"But what about the other things?" Hermione asked, a slight rasp to her voice. "They know I made the potion. Will Remus even trust me enough to take it again? How can we explain that I, this new student just happens to know what could be considered almost a cure to lycanthropy? And Peter? The boys would never keep the knowledge of a secret organization from him."

Dumbledore said nothing about this. He sat in silence for a minute, watching the phoenix, whose plumage seemed to glow like hot lava in the rays from the morning sun. Then the headmaster produced his wand, and with a flick of it he filled the desk between them with tea and sandwiches.

"I believe that matters like these should not be discussed on an empty stomach, please dig in."

Hermione gave the old man in bright blue robes a small smile and picked up the teacup in front of her. He really had a knack of knowing how to make her feel better.

"Would you so say," Dumbledore began, after having swallowed a small sandwich "that many of these problems stem from the fact that you are unable to decide upon where Mister Pettigrew's loyalties lay?"

Hermione nodded, and took a sip from her tea.

"I don't know if Peter went over to Voldemort's side when he still was at school, or if it happen afterwards. But as an outsider looking in on them, I would definitely say that he is the odd one out in their group. I also think I've seen only Sirius, Remus and James alone, on more and more occasions lately."

She nibbled on the corner of a toast. "Maybe this is when he starts to switch sides," she said, sounding troubled. "The boys are so very protective of each other, and they trust one another with their lives. At this moment they would never keep anything from him if they were to find out where I really come from. I thought that maybe I'd be able to keep him from turning on them, but I have no idea where to start. It's hard enough being in the same room as him, even though I know he hasn't done anything yet. My instincts just go haywire."

"Well," Dumbledore said, and sat his teacup down on the table. "We'll have to keep an even sharper eye on Mister Pettigrew from now on. And when we decide that the time is right, the others could be told as much as we'll be able to, without harming our work."

His appearance was one of pleasant calmness, and Hermione started to relax a little. Perhaps this whole horrible business wouldn't be such a failure after all.

"I should take this opportunity to tell you that I'll be going away for a couple of days."

"How come?" asked Hermione, immediately interested.

"I have been successful in finding a lead on the one of the horcruxes you said to be Hufflepuff's cup. I believe it hasn't yet been transferred into the Lestrange's vault at Gringotts, and I now intend to check if this might be true."

"Good," she said, with feeling. "The sooner we can get this thing together, the better."

Hermione and Dumbledore had thus far agreed upon a plan, that they wouldn't go after the horcruxes until they knew all their locations. Their best option would be to create some kind of coordinated attack upon all the objects at once, and then take out the Dark Lord himself. Dumbledore had already confirmed the existence of the ring in the ruins of the Gaunt's old shack, and the tiara still sat where Voldemort had placed it when he had come asking for the teaching position – in the Room of Requirement.

Albus Dumbledore had been most delighted when he learned of the mysterious room, and its purpose of giving its user what they most needed. Hermione had taken him to it, had walked outside the bare bit of wall on the seventh floor three times, wishing to see the place where all things were hidden. The door had popped into existence, and together, they had gone to locate one of the pieces of Tom Riddle's soul. Hermione shivered when she thought of it.

The headmaster had also gone to examine the place where the cave was hidden, but he hadn't found any traces of dark magic in the area. This either meant that the locket hadn't become a horcrux yet, or that Voldemort still stored it somewhere else.

Hermione thought of Kreacher, the Black's old family house elf, who had told them the horrible story of the cave, after Dumbledore and Harry had returned to Headquarters with the false locket. The elf had broken down at the sight of his master Regulus' treasure and they had managed to coerce him into telling them that one of the pieces of Tom Riddle's soul indeed was hidden in Kreacher's den in the kitchen.

But they weren't so lucky in this time. The diary, the locket, the cup and the snake were all still unknown factors. Hermione thought it improbable that Voldemort would have turned the snake into a horcrux yet, and there was a slight possibility that the diary could be found at Malfoy Manor, but all this was just guesswork. If now Dumbledore had a lead on the cup, it really was great news.

"I have arranged for additional security while I'm away, so don't worry about that. Just try to get through these next couple of days, Hermione, and everything will solve itself, I'm sure of it," said Dumbledore.

She highly doubted this, but didn't say anything and finished the breakfast. At least she wouldn't have to face anyone on an empty stomach.


Hermione felt absolutely miserable during the whole Friday. After the day's classes were over with, she took her refuge to the library. She spent the whole evening alone, hiding away within the nooks and crannies that could be found deeper within the maze of bookcases. If it hadn't been for the new security matters, she'd loved to be able to go for a long, fast, sweaty run around the lake. Instead, she just sat for hours on the floor, with her legs bent up and her head on her knees. Only occasionally did she flip through a random book.

When she at last went back up to the tower that night, she dreaded having to meet the Marauders in the common room. She was more than hurt by the treatment she had had to endure from Sirius, but Remus too had been beyond cold towards her, and hadn't even looked her way all day. This didn't mean that she couldn't understand why they acted this way, but it still hurt. James, on his part, had definitely seemed troubled by it all, but he had at least nodded at her before sitting down beside Peter in Transfiguration in the afternoon. Hermione wondered if they had told him everything yet, and she could have sworn the pudgy boy looked at her several times during the day, with a nervous look on his face.

Of course they had told him. Why wouldn't they?

And now, climbing into the circular Gryffindor Tower with a feeling of dread in her stomach, Hermione could see at once that it didn't hold any hostile boys. She breathed out, and hurried to head up to her own room. There she found Lydia hanging out on her bed, reading the latest issue of Witch Weekly. When Hermione entered, the dark haired girl sat up.

"Where have you been?" she asked, sounding both a little worried and annoyed.

"Just in the library," Hermione answered, evasively.

She could see the skeptical look in Lydia's eyes, but didn't want to talk any more about it, so she decided to change topic.

"Where is Jenny?"

Upon the mentioning of the other girl, Lydia smiled widely.

"She managed to get Bradley Creek to go out with her tonight. They're probably having a good time up at the Astronomy tower right now." She leaned back on her headboard again, looking pleased.

"Really? He's the Seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, isn't he?" Hermione remembered the blond guy that had entranced Jenny so at the tryouts earlier in the year.

"That he is," Lydia said. Her friend had pined for Bradley Creek ever since their fifth year, and that she had succeeded in muster up enough courage to ask him out was a triumph for both of them.

Hermione sat down on her own bed, and took a brush to her hair. It was a little early for getting to sleep already, but with the day she'd had, she just wished for it to end.

"Are they getting to play tomorrow, then?" she asked.

Ever since the attack on Hogsmeade, the students had been strictly forbidden from going out on the grounds unless it was for classes. This had been accepted as fair by most, probably due to the cold weather. The only sore point had been the match between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw this Saturday. It was the first match of the year, and everyone had been looking forward to it.

"Apparently so. Potter said that Dumbledore has strengthened the security all around the grounds."

"Oh. That's great then."

Hermione didn't really care about the match, but she guessed that both James and Sirius probably had high hopes for their team, as both the boys were competitive as few when it came to Quidditch. She said goodnight to Lydia and pulled the hangings around her four-poster bed shut. If she was lucky, she might fall asleep fast this time.


Saturday brought the students of Hogwarts a beautiful day. A clear, bright sun sat upon the blue sky and shone down on everyone in the Great Hall during breakfast. All the usual rivalry between the houses had magnified and could be heard and seen everywhere. There were catcalls and shouts between the tables, and everyone had donned scarves and hats in the colours of the team they'd chosen to support.

When the Captain of the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall with the rest of his team members in tow, the Gryffindor table erupted in proud cheers. Hermione, though, kept her head down as James and Sirius sat down some way away, not wanting to risk any more confrontations. But both boys seemed to be in a great mood, laughing and joking and throwing more or less serious insults at the Ravenclaw team. In the corner of her eye, she could see Sirius being surrounded by girls attempting to catch his attention, and he on his part seem to enjoy the company.

Hermione felt a sudden stab of jealousy in her chest when she noticed him flirting openly with a pretty blonde. This was such an unexpected and unwelcome feeling she almost choked on the pumpkin juice she had been drinking. She definitely hadn't expected it, but when she saw Sirius Black holding the blonde's hand and smiling devilishly at her, she wanted to cry and rage at the same time.

An avalanche of thoughts started to whirl within her. Oh, crap... This wasn't supposed to happen... Her head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton balls, and she breathed out heavily while watching Sirius holding court. There's so much more important things for me to do. The ambivalent feelings tore at her insides. Being romantically involved with anyone should really come way down her list of things to do, so why did the thought of him with another girl suddenly feel like a slap in the face?

Feeling more than a little dazed, she hardly noticed when Jenny – who had been more than chipper this morning – poked her in the side with her elbow.

"You okay?" she asked, her mouth full of toast. "You've gone all pale."

Hermione could hear the concern in Jenny's voice, and was just about to tell her she was fine when James took this moment to step up on the table, greatly cheered on by the Gryffindors. She glanced over at the teachers' platform, but it was almost like they'd expected this sort of behaviour and didn't seem to care much. The Quidditch tournament was serious business at Hogwarts, and the students were allowed some frivolities, especially when it came to the first match of the year.

James looked happy and determined, and he started to whip his house members into ecstatic cheerfulness. Everyone made such a ruckus, that the confident yells around their table almost drowned the disapproving boos coming from the Ravenclaw and Slytherin side. When everyone at last started to trickle out from the Great Hall, Hermione found her arm grabbed by Jenny.

"I know that look," she said. "You're going to try to get out of coming with us to the pitch."

There was such gentle knowing in Jenny's voice that Hermione grimaced, not able to come up with an excuse. Lydia appeared on her other side, and together the two girls steered her towards the huge doors that led them out to the gloriously sunlit, snowy grounds. Hermione really just wanted to get back to her room, and bury herself in the comforts of her bed. But how could she explain to Jenny and Lydia that she'd just discovered herself to have serious feelings for the one and only Sirius Black, Harry Potter's would-be godfather and someone she'd known to be dead since he fell through the veil in the Department of Mysteries so long ago?

If she was to be totally honest with herself, these feelings hadn't just popped into existence right now, but because of the whole emotional roller coaster she'd experienced the last couple of months, she hadn't recognized them for what they were.

And now… It hurt.

Yes, it hurt, seeing Sirius walking some way in front of them, with his arm around the blonde girl's waist. To see him smile at her, and tuck her hair in behind her ear.

Hermione couldn't help herself, and asked: "Who is that girl?"

"Who?" said Jenny, and after having seen where Hermione nodded, she snorted.

"Ah, I see Black is back to normal then."

Lydia had a look too, and almost instantly gave a short laugh. "Yeah, he's been unusually laid back on the whole dating scene this year. We were wondering if he was nursing some secret crush or something."

"I think she's a Hufflepuff," continued Jenny. "No idea who, though."

The cold air hit them like a hammer blow the second they stepped outside, and Jenny performed a warming charm on the three of them. It didn't shut out all the bitingly cold wind though, and as they climbed the stairs to get up to the seats around the Quidditch pitch, Hermione had to rub her hands together to get some warmth into them. The stands filled up quite quickly, and when she looked around, Hermione's eyes happened to find Remus and Peter, seated a couple of stories above them. Remus still wouldn't acknowledge her existence, but it made her feel a little uncomfortable to find Peter staring at her. She tore her eyes off of him and turned forward again, trying to get herself together.

Just a short while later, the stands erupted in wild cheers and applause as the gathered audience could see the two competing teams sweeping in on their broomsticks. Hermione winced at the sudden noise, and sighed a little when she watched James and Sirius converge with the rest of the team in mid-air, probably trying to work out some strategy of sorts. They were all in full Quidditch uniform, and Hermione grudgingly had to admit to herself that Sirius Black looked amazing in the red and gold colours, with the sunlight shining off the brass pieces that held the protective leather gear together. Bradley Creek, Jenny's newly ensnared date, and also the Seeker of the team, was already circling the skies high above, ready to search for the golden snitch as soon as the referee started the game.

The two Captains flew out to meet in the middle to shake hands, then a whistle sounded. The game was on and the balls were set free.

Hermione stamped her feet and hugged herself repeatedly. She was becoming colder for every second that passed, and the cacophony of noise emanating from the excited students made her feel more and more stressed out and uneasy. She endured twenty minutes of game play, but then it just was…too much. She couldn't concentrate on the game, and really felt like she needed to get somewhere calm to process all her thoughts.

"I'm getting a headache!" she yelled in Lydia's ear, trying to make herself heard through the clamour. She gestured to herself, and then pointed in the direction of the castle, trying to make the other girl understand that she was leaving.

"You sure?" Lydia looked concerned, and she blew upon her rapidly cooling fingers, trying to get some heat in them. The warming charm was slowly wearing off.

"I just need a little calm and peace," assured Hermione. "See you guys later!"

She shot a smile at the girls she'd really started to consider friends, and pulled down her hat a little more and swept her long red and gold scarf tighter around her neck. She turned around and started to press through the crowd to get to the back. It wasn't until she'd come clear of everyone, and was starting to descend the now abandoned stairs at the back of the wooden structure that surrounded the pitch, that something happened. Hermione suddenly felt her feet slip away from under her, and she hardly had time to think before she was tumbling down the steep stairs. There was no time to get her wand out from under all the layers of warm clothing she wore against the cold, no time for casting a cushioning charm. She rolled painfully down the steps and then landed on the cold, hard ground with a muted 'thud!'. The fall had knocked the breath from her lungs, and she saw dots of light dancing in front of her eyes.

"Ouch," she winced, trying to get some sort of hold of what was up and what was down.

"Lie still."

Hermione heard a low, intense voice just above her, and she could sense someone hurrying from the stairs she'd just dropped from.

"No, I'm okay," she mumbled and tried to sit up, leaning back on her elbows.

She shook her head slightly and blinked a couple of times, trying to make sense of what had just happened. Looking up, she found Remus Lupin, crouching by her side, a worried frown on his face. Being so near him, Hermione could dazedly see the sunlight catching the odd shine of fine scars all over his face. Her heart did a double beat, and she could clearly see him reacting to this.

Werewolf. Right.

"Really, I'm alright," repeated Hermione, after having checked that no bones were broken. "Just embarrassed, I guess. Must have slipped on some ice."

She avoided his gaze and started to stand up. She had lost the knitted hat she'd worn when she fell, and her wavy hair had left the confinement of it. It was now full of snow that glittered in the midday sunlight. Remus still stared at her, but Hermione, who ached all over and felt quite flustered, just couldn't take any more of the last days' treatment from him. Only wanting to be alone, she silently picked up her hat and then turned around and stiffly walked away towards the castle, thinking that besides her hurt pride, she'd probably have some massive bruises the next day.


Remus stared after Hermione as she limped away. He didn't know what to think of anything, but one thing was sure – he had just seen Peter Pettigrew cast a trip jinx upon the girl. What had he been thinking? Remus looked up at the high stands from where he'd been rushing down when he'd seen her fall.

She could have broken her neck!

The audience suddenly cheered louder than usual, and Remus absentmindedly noted that one of the teams must have scored a goal. He took one last look at the disappearing girl before starting to climb up the stairs again.

Peter had been acting more funny than usual these last couple of days, and the three marauders that had discovered the suspiciously strange behaviour of Hermione Granger, had agreed upon not mentioning what had happened, due to her apparent dislike of Peter. They were all a little protective of their smallest friend, and didn't think it would do him any good to know about the fact that the girl had something against him. But Peter had been twitchy and nervous for days anyway, although he wouldn't admit to anything being wrong when they'd asked him about it, and he had seem happy enough to go see the Quidditch match with Remus.

They sat down together at first, and watched the beginning of the game, but then Peter suddenly muttered something inaudible and got up and ran off. As Remus already was a little worried for him, he only hesitated for a few moments before deciding to follow his friend. What he saw when he got him in sight again though, was not something he'd been prepared for. There was no mistaking it, Peter had hexed Hermione so she fell down, and then he'd scurried off to Merlin knows where, without checking on how she was.

Remus got up to the top again, and scanned the crowd. There was no sign of Peter, so he went down to their seats again, not taking much notice of the actual game that was going on.

What the hell just happened? Without really registering anything, he watched the happenings in the air in front of him.

The booming voice of the commentator woke Remus out of his thoughts, when the excited boy cried out that James Potter had scored another goal. The game was definitely in favour of Gryffindor, and even if the Ravenclaw Seeker were to catch the snitch at this point, Gryffindor would win.

The crowd cheered on. Remus was still thinking about Peter, when the small boy could be seen making his way through the crowd, towards him. Peter sat down with a sheepish smile on his face.

"They're good, huh?"

Remus frowned a little, but decided to play along. "Yeah," he answered. "Where did you go?"

Peter held up a pair of thick gloves. "Just getting these. Man, it's freezing today. I thought this match could go on for hours and I didn't want to miss any of the good parts in the end."

"Huh," Remus said. "That's true."

He had an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. Peter's hands had been shaking slightly when he'd held up the gloves, and his voice held a shiver of sorts. He kept wiping on his oddly shiny face, too, and to be able to perspire in this cold weather, one would have to be upset about something.

Peter was definitely lying to him.


The match lasted almost two full hours, but they'd won, of course. Bradley was happily sporting a bloody nose after having crashed into the Ravenclaw Seeker in his urge to catch the tiny, fluttering, golden ball when it finally appeared, but he caught it. And when the Gryffindor team's Captain was setting down on the ground, many of its house's students that had rushed down to the pitch decided he was their best one ever and then resolutely carried James Potter upon their shoulders.

James just laughed, pleased with his team's first efforts. When he at last was put down outside of the locker rooms, he caught sight of Sirius looking very satisfied, as he just came up for air after having snogged the blonde girl from this morning. James hadn't caught her name, but he suddenly felt a little uncomfortable with the situation. He was more than positive that his moody friend really had a hang-up on Hermione Granger, and he now guessed that this very public action was part of some sort of revenge from Sirius' side, for her refusing to tell them what she was up to.

Upon seeing Sirius acting so childish, he made a face. The whole mysterious business that the new girl had going on felt a little too weird to him to just throw a tantrum about. He was of course curious about what part she played in it, but he didn't think that this was the best way to get back at someone. But Sirius had always been impulsive and hot-tempered, and James had to admit he'd at least had toned down on the girls this term. Until now apparently.


Later that night, the Gryffindors celebrated their team's win with a big party. Food and drinks had been delivered to them, courtesy of James who'd gone down to the kitchen and managed to get the house elves to deliver nothing short of a feast to their common room. The party was in full flow. Loud music sounded all through the tower, Butterbeer and Firewhisky was handed around among the older students. People were laughing, dancing and in short having a great time.

James though, felt a little disgruntled. Sirius had left them for a meeting with the blonde Hufflepuff girl, and was probably right now attached to her lips in a dark corner somewhere in the castle. Remus was in an unusually weird mood and sat quietly in a chair, not talking to anyone, and Peter seemed to have disappeared somewhere again. James had tried to get Lily to spend some time with him, but not even his most extraordinary flattering pickup lines had made the girl fall for him this time either.

"James," he heard someone saying.

James turned around and found that Remus had left the armchair he'd been occupying for the last hour or so, and was now standing in front of him with an odd look on his face.

"You've seen Peter?" he asked.

James shook his head. "Not for a while, sorry."

He noticed the knit eyebrows and thoughtful look on Remus' face. "Is something wrong?"

Remus seemed to think about something. "Do you have the map?"

"Course, mate. It's in my trunk."

James watched his friend turn around and start towards the stairs to the boys' dormitories. He made up his mind on the spot. Screw this.

"Hey, mind if I come? This party blows anyway," he grimaced.

He was awarded a grim smile and a nod from his friend, who was acting really strange, and they both went upstairs, away from the music and tipsy people.

"So, what's going on?" asked James again, a little bewildered this time, when Remus was rummaging through his trunk in search for the map.

The two boys were alone in the bedroom they shared with Sirius and Peter. When Remus finally found the piece of parchment, he didn't activate it at once. Instead, he sank down on his four-poster bed, looking troubled. He rubbed both his eyes with the palms of his hands and then looked up at James.

"Prongs, I saw something weird today."

James too had sat down on his own bed, and said with a smile: "Weirder than Padfoot's tongue down a Hufflepuff's throat?" He gave a short laugh, but went quiet as soon as he caught his friend's serious look.

"Sort of," Remus retorted. He then proceeded to tell James what had happened during the game, and how he'd witnessed the fourth Marauder's assault on Hermione.

James was looking dumbstruck. "Are you sure?" He shook his head disbelievingly, not really able to grasp what Remus was telling him. "And he didn't mention anything about it when he got back?"

"Nothing whatsoever," Remus sighed. "And Hermione, in turn, just thought she'd slipped on the icy stairs. She never noticed him doing it."

"But why would he do something like that?" was James' first instinctive response.

"You know," started Remus. He was twirling his wand between his long slender fingers, seemingly thinking. "Something has bugged me. It's about those feelings of anxiety I've picked up from Hermione whenever Peter comes near her. It's almost like she's scared of him, but is doing her best not to act on those feelings. Like she's trying to repress them, to fight the unease. That's weird, right?"

He glanced at the dormant map in his hands. "Anyway, I wanted to check up on what Peter's doing. I haven't seen him in a while." He muttered: "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

James got up from his own bed and went to sit beside his bothered friend. Together they scanned the map for the small dot that would tell them where Peter was. The boys usually didn't spy on each other, in according with a sort of unspoken rule between them all, but James had to admit that this seemed to be a special occasion.

"Well, look at that," he smirked after a while. He had located the dots of 'Sirius Black' and what turned out to be a 'Bethany Webster', in extremely close vicinity to each other in a deep windowsill on the third floor.

Remus in his turn pointed out that Hermione Granger was to be found in the library, where she apparently had returned to her hiding spot deep within the maze of shelves. He suddenly felt sorry for her. He had always known that his dark secret was something that would haunt him for all his life, and that if the larger wizarding community ever found out that he was a werewolf, he'd be thrown out of school first, and probably hunted down and killed later. After he realized that she knew about him, and that she was the one making the potion that he'd come to believe to be his saving grace for the future, he'd freaked out. There was no other way of describing it.

"Hey," James said suddenly, and without a word, he pointed to the dungeons.

In a small room pretty far down, four tiny dots could be read as 'Regulus Black', 'Lucius Malfoy', 'Aaron Lemaire' and – 'Peter Pettigrew'.

"What the hell?" muttered James, looking stricken.

Remus on the other hand jumped off the bed, and was once more searching through James' trunk.

"It's under my bed," said James at once.

He wiped the map and tucked it under his sweater, and Remus dove in under the bed and found the silvery cloth he was looking for. That none of the boys had to say their thoughts out loud was a true sign of the depth of their friendship. They both hurried down through the common room and out into the dark hallways before anyone could grab James – who was the hero of the day – and ask him to retell parts of the game play again.

They only had to hide once on the way down to the dungeons, and before they crossed the landing before the Great Hall and started the descent into the dark corridors that belonged to the Slytherins, they threw the invisibility cloak over themselves. This wasn't child's play. For a Gryffindor to be caught on Slytherin turf – especially this late at night – was to be asking for all kinds of trouble.

James and Remus crept quietly along the dark walls. With the clever map as their aid, they managed to avoid any sudden confrontations with Slytherins, and soon they were near the place where Peter still was marked to be located. The door was closed, but when they pressed their ears against it, muffled voices could be heard through it.

They instantly recognized Peter to be among them.

"I did what you asked okay. Isn't that enough? I don't like sneaking around and lying to people."

There was laughter and some inaudible talk, which resulted in more laughter among the unseen persons. James and Remus stared at each other with a mixture of horrified disbelief on their faces.

A familiar drawl could be made out through the door, and there was no mistaking it – Lucius Malfoy was speaking. "Well," he said, "I'd give you points for trying, certainly, but if I was you…" He paused. "…I'd think of how important it is to really apply oneself in one's work. Wouldn't you say so, Pettigrew?"

"I'm still not sure about this," Peter seemed to mumble, and the boys outside of the door had to strain themselves to hear the words.

Someone else answered him: "We've told you, we'll take good care of you. Isn't that what you want?"

"Sure," said Peter, with a hint of hopelessness in his voice. "I have to get back, the other's will wonder where I've been."

More laughter.

"Hah. I bet they've not even realized you've been gone, Pettigrew. Those… friends… of yours don't seem to care very much, do they?"

James and Remus recognized Sirius' brother, as they both sounded very much alike. James hurriedly signed for them to back away from the door and hide in a dark corner, but it was a while before the door opened and let out one of their best friends. Peter looked thoroughly depressed, and didn't seem to enjoy the fact that Aaron Lemaire had his hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off.

"I still wish you'd just leave me alone," Peter muttered, before resolutely walking away.

The two boys under the invisibility cloak stayed perfectly still and watched the door close. Then they hurried in front of it once more, and could just make out Lemaire's voice again, through the wood.

"I think we better keep an eye on him. Perhaps rough him up a little more? He won't blab, will he?"

Regulus snorted. "That one? He's so cowardly I'm even surprised we were able to scare him into doing it."

They couldn't really hear Malfoy's answer, but suddenly they noticed footsteps were approaching from the other side, and James hastily dragged Remus to the side by his arm. They just made it before the door opened for the second time and Regulus and Lemaire came out. Nothing more was said between them as they continued towards the Slytherin common room further down the corridor.

Remus silently signed for them to leave, and James nodded. Together, he and James walked off in the opposite direction of the disappearing Slytherins, going upstairs again. They didn't take off the cloak until they were back outside of their own common room, and then they just stared at each other. The map had told them that Peter had gone straight upstairs, and that he was now alone in their bedroom. James ran both his hands through his hair, several times, and took off his glasses to wipe his eyes.

"I…" he started, and then went quiet again, feeling dumb. He put on his glasses again.

"We can't call him on it," Remus said. "There is something major going on, and I think we'll have to figure out the big picture before we blow it all up."

James nodded. "Sirius is gonna go berserk, though," he added.

"Oh, yes," agreed Remus. "We need to find him."

"Aw Moony, he's gonna kill us if we interrupt him now!" whined James.

"He's gonna kill Peter if he doesn't get time to calm down before seeing him after we've told him what happened," countered Remus.

James grudgingly agreed to this and after another quick look on the map, they found that their friend still was with his date in the third floor corridor.

"What about her?" asked James and pointed at the now moving dot belonging to Hermione Granger.

She was clearly about to leave the library.

"We need to convince her to talk to us, for real this time," Remus said. "Aw, crap! It looks like she's gonna come out right on top of them. We better hurry before Sirius does anything stupid."

The boys took off down the corridor.


Author's End Note:

1. A bit of a transport this one, but I needed it to be this way to be able to get to the next part. This chapter was originally twice as long, and I had to cut it in the middle, even though I really wanted to give you all of it. Look out for the rest in a couple of days, though ;)

2. I'm not gonna discuss the plot, or give out teasers about what is going to happen with the characters' development. All this is all pretty much decided already, even if there's A LOT left of this story. But I LOVE (truly, madly, deeply, you guys amaze me!) hearing your theories about it all, so please, don't hesitate to drop me your marvelous thoughts, they are more than greatly appreciated! Leave a review or PM me, whatever you prefer.