Sirius and Remus didn't wake up all night, and by dawn, I was worried I'd have to drag them both back myself. Sirius had changed back into a human after a couple of hours, and by now Remus was human again. Neither of them seemed to have any injuries from the Death Eaters, but Sirius's side was still bleeding through the makeshift bandage I had made of his robe. The lack of response from either of them worried me.

I shook Sirius, trying to wake him. His face twisted into an expression of pain, but he did not otherwise respond. I dropped him as soon I noticed his pain, and started shaking Remus instead.

"Moony," I said. "Wait a second!"

I pulled out my wand. "Rennerverate."

Remus shot up suddenly, eyes wide. "What happened?" his eyes found Sirius. "Sirius!"

"There were Death Eaters in the forest last night," I explained. "You tried to get past Sirius and scratched him, but you got Stunned. Then Sirius tackled Bellatrix and the other Death Eater sent him flying into that tree."

"We need to get him to the hospital wing, then," Remus said anxiously. He pulled Sirius towards him, but Sirius gave a little moan of pain. Remus's eyes widened. "Or we could bring Pomfrey to him."

"Why?" I asked, kneeling at Sirius's side and prodding him with my wand.

"Well, it obviously hurts him when we move him," Remus said. "You said he went flying into a tree? I'm worried he could of broken something- we could make it worse by moving him."

I paled. "Oh. Well, you run the fastest and probably know these woods better. Can you go?"

"Yeah," said Remus, before he took off towards Hogwarts. I sat down beside Sirius; he couldn't be really hurt, could he? I know he'd had enough of being hurt.

"Siri," I said, wondering if he could hear me. "You know, if you don't wake up, they might send you to St. Mungo's again. All those potions and Healers and no freedom- you don't want that, do you?"

As if on cue, Sirius stirred slightly and his eyes fluttered open. "Prongs?"

"Oh, thank goodness," I smiled widely. Sirius made to sit up, before giving a cry and falling back to the ground, clutching his chest and breathing raggedly and painfully. "You okay?"

"Fine," Sirius answered through his wince. I raised an eyebrow. "Okay, fine, my chest really hurts, happy?"

"Moony's on his way to get Pomfrey," I said, eyeing Sirius with concern as he pulled himself into a sitting position against a tree.

He groaned in exasperation, and possibly pain as well. "Great. More hospital wing."

"I tried to fix your side," I frowned. "You've messed it up again."

Sirius forced a cheeky smile. "That's what I do, Prongsie. You fix me, and I end up messing that up."

"So... how hurt is really hurt?" I asked, knowing his definition of really hurt and mine were completely different. Sirius laughed, then winced again.

"I was over exaggerating," Sirius said, lying through his teeth as far as I could tell.

"Sure," I replied. "We'll let Madam Pomfrey be the judge of that."

"I'm not going back to St. Mungo's," Sirius said stubbornly.

I raised an eyebrow. "Whoever said anything about St. Mungo's?"

Sirius blushed. "No one."

"Do you think you're hurt enough to get stuck back there?" I asked worriedly. Sirius shook his head, grimacing. "You totally sure about that?"

"Yes," Sirius replied persistently. "At any rate, I bet you Pomfrey can fix me up in two minutes and send me on my way."

"Perhaps," I said, frowning towards the woods. "What were Death Eaters doing here?"

"Reckon they're still after me?" Sirius mused.

"I hope not," I muttered. "But it seemed like they were up to something more... sinister."

"And killing me isn't sinister?"

"I'm going to tell Dad," I said. Sirius seemed to agree with me. Suddenly, Sirius head snapped up, like a dog who'd heard something. Straining my ears, I heard voices not too far away.

"...the Dark Lord has tasked me with killing my cousin!"

"Congratulations, Bella."

"Do you really think that we'll find that pool?"

"I heard it's more of a lake, and it's really hard to find."

"The Dark Lord always gets what he wants!"

The voices started to fade, signalling that they were getting farther away from us. Sirius and I exchanged glances.

"That- that..." I muttered some very unfriendly words under my breath.

"Language," Sirius said.

"You're one to talk," I retorted. "She sounded so happy! How could she be so happy about killing you?"

"Doesn't matter," Sirius said stiffly. As much as he hated his cousin, it had to hurt that she would be so excited at the prospect of murdering him. I put a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he jerked away, wincing as the sharp motion jarred his injuries. "I'm more interested in what this pool is that Voldemort is after."

"It can't be good," I said. Just then, Remus and Madam Pomfrey came rushing into the clearing.

"Honestly," Madam Pomfrey huffed. "I was told you couldn't be moved without pain!"

"He can't," I said, as Sirius muttered something unintelligible.

"I'm fine," Sirius insisted. "Give me a potion and use some fancy spell and I'll be good as new. I'm not staying in the hospital wing."

Madam Pomfrey sighed, and cast a diagnostic spell on Sirius. "What were you up to last night? Two broken ribs, horrible bruising, broken collar bone, deep laceration..."

I gave Sirius a glare. "You said you were fine."

"He always says that," Remus pointed out.

"I know," I said. "But if I'd known how bad off he was, I wouldn't of let him move."

"I've had worse," Sirius muttered sullenly as Madam Pomfrey conjured a stretcher. "I can walk."

To prove his point, he stood, shakily at first, and started towards Hogwarts as fast as he could. Madam Pomfrey huffed. "I swear that boy has a death wish."

"I'll bet he does," I agreed, and we set off after Sirius.

Sirius managed to stay ahead of us for the walk back to the castle, but when we got to where we had to turn to get to the hospital wing, he turned, instead, in the direction of the Gryffindor common room.

"Mr. Black," said Madam Pomfrey. Sirius paused and glanced back. "The hospital wing is this way."

Sirius made a face. "I'm going to the dorms; I've got class today."

Madam Pomfrey gave an irate sigh. "Mr. Black, I need to heal you."

Sirius paused. "Fine."

Madam Pomfrey had confined Sirius to the hospital wing for two days at the least, assuming he didn't try to escape again. Did he listen?

No, considering he was walking with me to my Dad's office right now.

"You really should be resting," I fretted. "You'll hurt yourself."

"Nah, I'm fine," Sirius said.

I groaned. "Well, if you get sent to St. Mungo's because you hurt yourself, I'm not helping you."

Sirius did the mature thing and stuck out his tongue at me.

We entered Dad's office, and he looked surprised to see us. "I don't have you today- and, Sirius, aren't you supposed to be in the hospital wing?"

"I hate that place," Sirius said with a shrug. "We've got some bad news."

"Or whatever you want to call it," I added. "There are Death Eaters in the Forbidden Forest, or at least there were last night and this morning. Bellatrix has been tasked with killing Sirius (go figure) and Voldemort is looking for some sort of pool in the Forest."

Dad frowned. "That's troubling. Any reason why you came to me and not Dumbledore?"

"Well, you know about how we're Animagi," Sirius said. "Dumbledore doesn't."

Dad nodded, accepting this answer. "I want you both to be extra careful, especially you, Sirius, since Voldemort wants you dead."

"He probably isn't too fond of me, either," I noted. "After all, I punched him in the face."

Sirius grinned. "I turned him green, and taunted him... multiple times."

Dad rubbed his forehead. "What am I going to do with you? When Carol hears about this-"

"Which she won't," Sirius put in. "She'll murder us, you can't tell her we were in the Forest last night."

"Fine," Dad said. "Sirius, it's time you got back to the hospital wing."

Sirius crossed his fingers behind his back and nodded. I stifled my snickers, knowing that we were both going straight back to the Gryffindor common room.

"Sirius! Where have you been all day?" Regulus asked as soon as we entered. He grabbed me (I'd entered first) in a bone-crushing hug, before doing the same with Sirius. Sirius gritted his teeth in pain, but managed not to yelp.

"Hi... Regulus," he said in a strained voice that betrayed his pain. Regulus pulled away as if shocked. "What?"

"You're hurt," he said crossly, before displaying his right arm, which was slightly red. I narrowed my eyes. 'You're bleeding."

"I told you you shouldn't have left," I muttered.

"I'm fine," Sirius said, flopping down on the couch with an almost imperceptible wince. "Really. Even if I wasn't, there's no way I'm going back to that place."

"Stubborn git," I said. "I'd hex you into going, but since you're already hurt, I'd rather not make it worse."

Sirius stuck his tongue out at me again.

"How'd you get hurt?" Regulus asked. "Is is bad? What happened?"

"We were with Moony in the forest," I said, glad we were in our dorms and not the common room. "There were Death Eaters out there, they're after something."

"Not- not Sirius, right?" Regulus asked hesitantly.

"Well, yes," I admitted. Regulus whimpered and grabbed his brother in another painful hug. Sirius obviously didn't have the heart to tell Regulus that his hugs were painful. "But something else, too."

"Did you tell Uncle Jacob?" Regulus guessed. I nodded. "Well, he can take care of it. You guys had better be more careful from now on!"

"You sound like Uncle Jacob," Sirius grumbled.

"Better than having one of you killed," Regulus retorted. "Oh! Speaking of that, doesn't Remus have some dittany?"

"He ought to," I said. "We'll ask when he gets back. In the meantime, Sirius, lie down so you don't hurt yourself more."

Sirius muttered something about overprotective time travellers and lied down on his bed.

"So... what did the Death Eaters want?" Regulus asked conversationally.

"They said something about a pool in the forest," I said. "Well, the other said he thought it was a lake. I think... I think..."

A mischievous grin spread across my face, and a sparkle that could only mean trouble appeared in Sirius eyes. We both turned to Regulus.

"Oh, no!" he exclaimed. "Oh, no, no, no! You two are going to go off and do something crazy! There is no way I'm letting you drag me into this!"

"I can't believe I let you drag me into this," Regulus groaned. Sirius, beside him, snickered. I just smiled wearily. We were back in the forest, trying to find our way to spy on the Death Eaters. "I knew this was a bad idea- both of you had that look on your faces!"

"Relax," Sirius said. "We're under the Cloak."

"Wouldn't it have been easier to look in the library?" Regulus continued.

"I thought you liked this kind of stuff, Reg?" I said.

"I like adventures," Regulus replied. "This is a suicide mission!"

"And fighting Death Eaters with a frying pan isn't?" Sirius retorted.

Regulus flushed. "My frying pan is a perfectly good weapon! It's worked, hasn't it? I'm the only one of us who hasn't been in St. Mungo's once."

"Yeah, and you're bloody lucky," I snickered. "Listen, Sirius and I made a plan-"

"We're all gonna die!" Regulus moaned.

"It's a good plan!" I argued.

"Sirius was in on it!" Regulus said. "Both of you were in on it! It's a recipe for disaster- and trust me when I say I know a recipe for disaster when I see one."

"You, kitchen, ingredients," Sirius muttered to me. Regulus, who'd heard him, whacked him on the head with his frying pan. "Ow! Regulus!"

Regulus stuck out his tongue.

"Okay, so you guys know the plan?" I asked.

"No!" Regulus said. "And I'm not sure I want to!"

"It's a good plan," I insisted. "Okay, once we find their base-"

"-we'll camp out in the bushes and listen," Sirius continued. "If we hear anything important, we commit it to memory, and then, when we've heard enough, we get back to Hogwarts-"

"-and then we'll ask Dad," I added. "If he doesn't know, we'll check the library. Then we'll do all we can to prevent the Death Eaters from finding this pool thingamajig."

"So..." Regulus said slowly. "You want to somehow find the Death Eater base and hide in the bushes, hoping they won't hear the rustling of the bushes, and try to remember anything important which they might not say. And then you want us to find out exactly what they want and get in their way?"

"Well, when you put it like that..." Sirius said.

"Aren't you supposed to be the optimistic one?" I asked. Regulus shrugged. Suddenly, Sirius stuck out his arm and stopped us.

"Look," he hissed, nodding forward. There, beyond a few trees and bushes, were several tents, and several Death Eaters. "We're here."

A/N: Hiya! Sort of cliffhanger, you can tell I'm in a mood cause Siri is hurt. :P Oh well, not that bad, he's all healed up now. Big thanks to my awesome reviewers, jeremiah123, sk8boards4ever, and N. E. Person! Free DVD recordings of the imagined movie for this! XD Hope you enjoyed!

I don't own Harry Potter.