I tilted my watch so I could see the time. 10.37. It's morning break.
Third floor corridor. So where's this person? The corridor's
completely empty.

Reaching into my satchel, I withdrew the Map. It'd been a while since
I'd used it. Since the night of the duel in the dorm. I had simply
chucked it deep into my trunk, and put a Stealth Hex around it.

As I scanned the Map for anyone nearby, my mind wandered unconsciously
to what had happened recently.

I had to admit that all of us had been acting weirdly lately. Well.
Okay, not so much Sirius. He was as obnoxious and thoughtless as
usual. But James had been... even more bitchy than he was before. And
even I'd been extra flighty.

My eyes slid over the map, making sure Lily was still waiting in the
Hall. I'd told her to stay put, that I was just going to return a
library book. I didn't think she'd believe me for a second, but she
had warily waved me off.

I leant up against the tapestry of Cadamus the Caring and thought
back. Really, it had all started when Sirius sent Lily a few pictures
of James in the shower. James had gone ballistic, shouting streams of
obscenities at Sirius. More than usual. That was when Sirius had came
out as bi, enraged by insults about gay people James had shot at him,
comparing him to a homosexual voyeur.

James had sort of backed away from Sirius when he had been trying to
get off on boys instead of girls. He'd avoided Sirius completely when
he was with his current partner. And when all those ended badly, I was
the only one there to console him.

Until a night when, slightly smashed with Firewhisky after yet another
failed date, he had leant in and kissed me mid-sentence.

That's when James had came back in play. When he found out that his
best friend had settled for his best friend, James settled for it,
too. He'd like it more if we were together than if Sirius was skipping
around with strangers every other night. He'd even said so to me.

I didn't like where my mind was taking me. What's wallowing in the
past going to fix?

And it's not helped by the fact that I still lov-

Suddenly, I spotted someone coming along the corridor on the map. I
stared at the little black dot in disbelief.

No. It can't be. Th- this is a set up.

Because when I looked up, raising his eyebrows at me was none other
than Regulus Arcturus Black, with an expression of fastidious distaste
plastered on his face.