A.N—Thanks for all the love. A couple more chapters in this round of updating.

Disclaimer—I don't own it.

OoOoO

Chapter Twenty Nine
The Map

Lily didn't learn anything new from Mary. She'd spent the better part of an hour trying to get information out of the blonde girl, all for nothing. Lily knew that James was asking Remus and Stefan as to where Belle goes every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday night. Lily had also noticed that she disappeared on Wednesday mornings for the first half of the day as well.

"I just don't understand." Lily muttered, to the fireplace. "Where could she be going? It's killing me!"

Sirius leaned forward. "What if I told you that there is a way for us to track her?"

Lily looked up, her green eyes bright and her expression intrigued. "Is there a way?"

Sirius winked, raising his bottle of butterbeer. Lily looked at James who looked slightly guilty. He grabbed her hand and dragged her from the common room, Sirius in tow, half walking half strutting. After a while, James stopped, scanned the corridor and then took out a piece of parchment, handing it to Lily.

"And this is...?"

"The secret to our pranking success. Be warned, Evans, that if you tell anybody about this, we will make you pay in embarrassing, excruciating ways." Sirius said casually, downing the rest of his butterbeer and then throwing the bottle out the window with a shrug. Lily raised and eyebrow and looked at James, who drew his wand, cast another glance around before tapping the parchment and muttering something under his breath.

Ink appeared on the map, spreading like a spider across the parchment and forming lines, words and dots.

"Messrs Moony Wormtail Padfoot and Prongs?" She read with a raised eyebrow. James shrugged. Lily's eyes continued to widen in surprise as she realised that it was map, a map of everybody in Hogwarts.

"Where did you get this?" she asked in awe, turning the flaps up and drinking in all the knowledge stored there.

"Made it." Sirius told her. She smirked.

"Shut up."

"No, really. Moony, a.k.a Remus did all the research, Sirius did the charms and I transfigured the parchment into a map. Took us the better part of a year to get it just right, but it was so worth it." James said proudly. Lily smiled.

"So this shows everything and everyone in Hogwarts?" she asked.

"Yup." Sirius said, popping the P. "It'll tell us where Belle is at the moment."

They all crowded around, searching the map carefully. Lily frowned after twenty minutes and lowered the map.

"I don't see her." Lily said. Sirius took the map from her.

"If she's not on the map then she's not in Hogwarts grounds." Sirius said thoughtfully, "And the only way out of this castle is through the passageways and she doesn't know about those, does she?"

"No." Lily said, crossing her arms and staring out the window. "Belle, where are you?"

OoOoO

Belle crept into her dorm, throwing her bag down and collapsing on her bed. Mary was still awake, but Lily was in the head dorm, so Belle was safe. Mary looked up and smiled.

"Hey. How'd it go?"

"I'm exhausted." Belle said, kicking off her shoes and looking at Mary, who was upside down in her vision. "It was amazing."

"What's it like?" Mary asked.

"Unreal." Belle said, "Like a different brand of magic."

Mary smiled. "You obviously love it."

"I do." she replied, getting up. "But right now all I want is a shower."

Mary giggled and waved her off, looking back down at her magazine. "You know, Lily was asking me about where it is you go off to."

Belle walked past the door. "She did?"

"Yeah." Mary said, "And James was asking Remus, asking if he knew. They're all getting very suspicious, Tink. I think you may need to come up with a different cover story. It's only a matter of time before they go to McGonagall to verify your story."

Belle stopped in the doorway, only in her underwear and brushing her hair, looking troubled. "She won't cover for me. Only Dumbledore knows about my classes."

"Maybe you should have said that you were taking classes with Dumbledore." Mary suggested. Belle shook her head.

"And when they ask what he's been teaching me? What do I say then?" she asked and Mary rubbed her forehead.

"Well, I'll cover for you, but you'll have to tell them eventually." she said and Belle stretched.

"I know." she said.

"Okay, as long as you know." Mary sighed.