A/N: Sorry for the delay! I had finals at school, plus my computer decided to randomly break down and I've spent the last few days trying to fix it. It had at least four future chapters on it that I was really excited about. :'(

It still doesn't work, so I'm writing this on my mom's computer; she doesn't have Word, so if there are any formatting issues or whatnot with this chapter, that would be why. Sorry again!

The fact that my roommates had spent the entire night giggling over the recent developments in Isabelle and Scarlett's love lives like such girls (I'd discreetly averted their attention with a loud coughing fit when they tried to bring up Sirius and me) allowed me to escape the dormitory the next morning without being caught.

I managed to hit my blaring alarm clock, find the clothes I'd laid out the night before, topple over onto the floor whilst wearily pulling on said clothes, and run a brush through my hair all without waking up a single one of them; I was out the door and heading towards the stairs with two minutes to spare.

I'd tossed and turned for half an hour after everyone else had fallen asleep, which really should have been a hint that I wasn't quite as tough as I liked to think I was, especially when I reached the top of the staircase, took one step, then dropped to the floor; I sat there, burying my face in my shaking hands.

It was one thing to sit in my room alone and drown myself in neverending assignments, and it was an even better thing to be distracted by friends in the common room or by whatever I could refer to Snape as in the kitchens. When my mind was preoccupied, when I wasn't entirely focused on the situation, I was calm, and it was easy.

But now, knowing Sirius was only a few steps away waiting for me in the common room, it was a whole different story entirely.

It was as if his absence since the confrontation left the crazy part of me thinking he'd been erased from my life entirely. Since he hadn't answered my question the way I wanted - and hadn't swept me up into his arms and carried me off into the sunset like in every romantic film I'd ever watched - the lack of happy ending meant there wouldn't be any ending at all. He'd just cease to exist.

But, of course, there had to be an ending, and it would involve me trying my best to pretend like nothing had happened. I could only hope he'd do the same; if he tried bringing it up, I'd probably keel over on the spot from the awkwardness.

The fact that I'd survived up to that point gave me enough to stand up and force myself down the stairs. I tiptoed to the bottom, staring at my feet, then paused; with a hand on the banister to steady myself, I took a deep breath and momentarily hoped that Sirius' alarm had decided to malfunction or that he'd gotten kidnapped by a rogue centaur or anything that would keep him from being there when I rounded the corner.

The gods must not have been in my favor - I blamed the fact that I might've momentarily peeked at Lily's paper during our last Transfiguration exam - because the back of Sirius' head was visible over the top of the couch the second I stepped foot on the common room floor.

He didn't turn instantly like I expected, and it only took a couple more steps to realize that he was snoring softly, his head twitching onto his shoulder every few seconds. I was bemused - according to the clock on the wall, I was only a minute late - and wondered how long he had been in that position.

Judging by the fact that creases from the folds in his robe were imbedded in his cheeks, evident when I rounded the corner of the couch, I reckoned it'd been a while.

I was glad to find that seeing him didn't cause me to burst into tears - or flames. The worst that happened was a slight pinching sensation in my chest, which I could have easily attributed to how fast I'd gulped down my onion soup the night before.

Ignoring the fact that the pinching grew stronger the closer I drew, I shook him by the shoulders until the snoring stopped and he began to stir.

"Sirius," I sang, poking him on the cheek, "Wake up," I begged; each time I touched him, it became a bit more difficult to blame my pain on my dinner.

"I'm awake," he grumbled under his breath, swatting my hand away before stretching and rubbing his eyes. He emitted a loud yawn once I'd stepped backwards and wrung my hands together behind my back, grateful that I could now keep a safe distance; once he'd yawned a good four times and sat up, his gray eyes finally opened all the way and met mine.

He looked messy. His hair was disheveled, his eyes were drooping at the corners and intensifying the purple sheen that was still somewhat visible, and his tie was knotted sloppily. He appeared to be entirely exhausted - whether he was up all night because of my accusation or just from anticipation of the prank, I didn't know - which wasn't good news for me.

He really did look bloody cute when he was sleepy.

"Hullo," I chirped as brightly as I could. He blinked at me several times before finally awarding me with the infamous crooked grin, back on his face for the first time since the previous day's lunch. Unless my eyes were deceiving me, however, he looked somewhat uncertain.

"Hi," he mumbled. He scanned my face, still wearing his now blatantly uncomfortable smile - I presumed he was waiting for me to bring up our last encounter even though I would have rather stuck needles in my eye than do so.

"Shall we?" I asked after a few moments of excruciating silence, gesturing the portrait hole, and he stared for a beat longer before nodding.

"Of course," he exclaimed. I waited as he slowly stood and adjusted his robes; he only managed to take two steps toward the door, however, before stumbling, grabbing onto the arm of the nearest chair to hold himself up. He let go of the chair once he'd regained balance - though his fumble seemed quite different than Remus' had been when Scarlett made his night - and placed his hand on his forehead instead, emitting a quiet groan.

"Sirius?" I asked hesitantly, peering at him with raised eyebrows, "Are you alright?"

"Peachy keen, jelly bean," he responded with false cheeriness, his voice strained.

I froze. His parroting of the phrase I had once used in front of him would have warmed my heart in any other situation, but suddenly his weariness no longer seemed adorable; my realization made me curl my lip in disgust instead.

"Are you drunk?" I asked incredulously.

"Ah," he wrinkled his nose, "I believe the term is 'hungover',"

"It's a Tuesday for crying out loud," I hissed, "It's a school day,"

He shrugged, not looking at me.

"You're ridiculous," I huffed in exasperation, every ounce of me that had been beginning to pine over him again dissolving rapidly, "I reckon you were with those Hufflepuff girls, yeah?"

He still didn't look up, just scuffed the toe of his shoe against the ground and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Typical," I muttered, utterly repulsed, "Maybe you should just stay here and sleep it off. I can do this myself," I shook my head and turned towards the portrait hole once more, but he snorted so obnoxiously I was forced to wheel around and stare at him again.

"I'm not going to stay here," he said firmly, finally looking at me again with stony eyes.

"You can barely walk," I crossed my arms over my chest, "How do you expect to pull this off when you're so...so..." I trailed off, unable to think of a good word; instead, I threw my hands in the air, made a couple highly attractive sputtering sounds, then stormed off in the direction of the exit.

"You're really going to go out there without this?" he called after me, and I reluctantly looked over my shoulder to see him dangling the Invisibility Cloak from his hand, looking half pleased with himself and half as if he was about to puke.

I hesitated, but let out a sigh of resignation and walked back over to him, standing as far away as I could whilst he draped the cloak over us.

"You're going to have to step closer," he said dully, "Our feet are showing,"

I shuffled a couple of centimeters to the left until the tips of our feet were no longer visible to the outside eye. He pulled the Marauder's Map out of his pocket, tapped it with his wand, then glanced over it quickly before clutching it in his fist and leading us out of the common room. The Fat Lady, apparently used to invisible Gryffindors by that point, simply rolled her eyes and fell back asleep, closing behind us with a soft click.

We walked in complete silence, the Map creating the occasional rustling noise every time Sirius checked it for unwelcome visitors. He didn't attempt to make any kind of conversation, not that I minded; I was perfectly content with seething quietly to myself.

We had been planning the prank for months, and when the day finally came, he had to go out and get himself pissed. Perhaps Remus was right when he said I'd react the same way as Sirius had to a group of admirers, but I certainly wouldn't get drunk with them on a Monday night, especially if the next day was a particularly significant one.

I didn't even want to know what he had done with those girls; the idea made me feel as sick as he looked.

When we made it to the room behind the mirror on the fourth floor, Sirius dropped the cloak and I immediately bolted towards the boxes in the corner, leaving him standing by the entrance alone.

It was a lot easier to breathe, not only because the prick hadn't even had the decency to shower after his little endeavors and reeked of Firewhiskey, but because being close to him made my urge to curse him into oblivion even stronger.

Perhaps I had no right to be angry for him for his choices, considering they were none of my business, but I damn sure had a right to be angry that he had the nerve to compromise all the work we'd put into perfecting the plan.

His "needs" surely could have waited another night.

Pretending he wasn't there, I grabbed the box full of snakes and sweets and, feeling a slight sense of deja vu, shrunk it down to the size of my hand before shoving it into my bag.

When I turned again, Sirius was leaning against the wall, watching me and looking pained. He was twirling his wand between his fingers absentmindedly, but stopped when I stepped closer to him.

"This was supposed to be fun," he whispered, revealing that his constipated expression wasn't simply due to the alcohol tainting his body. I narrowed my eyes at him, annoyed with his apparent disappointment.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you got yourself smashed," I accused, and he looked momentarily sheepish.

"I'm sorry," he said even more quietly than before, and I stared at him for a few moments before shaking my head and turning away.

"Check the map,"

"Huh?" he asked stupidly.

"The map," I repeated, wishing I was back in my bed instead of in some blasted hidden room I would've been better off never knowing anything about, "Check it before we leave,"

"Oh," he stated, sounding dejected, before pulling the map out of his pocket and sweeping his gaze over it, "It's clear,"

The trip to our Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom was just as painfully awkward. I noticed Sirius seemed just as keen as keeping his distance as I was, perhaps because of the previous night's question; I couldn't help but wonder if his nighttime adventures had something to do with it as well.

Maybe it had been an attempt to prove that he hadn't gone soft.

I hated the thought. I knew he was a good person at heart, a wonderful one even, and I hated that I couldn't stop myself from accusing him of using girls as his personal toys before simply throwing them away when I knew for a fact that almost all of them wanted something more. I especially hated that I had to accuse him of it because it was true.

He would continue to have his fun and never feel a thing for anyone until he found his so-called "exception", and clearly he had yet to find her.

Or, for all I knew, him. That would certainly answer a lot of questions.

"Which seats are theirs?" I asked once we'd stepped into the classroom, locking the door behind us and casting the Muffliato spell to prevent Filch from overhearing anything if he happened to walk by. I glanced over the room, not having realized until that moment that I truly had no clue where the Slytherins sat.

"Those two," Sirius pointed to a couple of desks on the right side of the room without hesitation, staggering over to them and surveying the ceiling directly above, "I made sure to take notice," he explained, glancing over at me.

"Alright, well then, now what?" I walked over to the opposite side of the desk he was next to, joining him in staring up at the ceiling. He had his eyebrows furrowed in thought, then suddenly dropped his chin and held his hand out to me.

"May I have the snakes, please?" he asked, and I pulled the box out of my bag, restored it to its original size, and placed it down on the desk. He pulled up the flaps and peered inside, pulling out a gigantic net I was sure hadn't been in there before.

"Where'd you get that?" I questioned as he spread the net out on the floor.

"I found it," he shrugged, grabbing the box of snakes and dumping them out onto the net. There were enough of them that the thought of them all falling down on me in the middle of class sent a shiver down my spine; if Avery and Mulciber weren't so awful, I might have actually felt bad for them.

He grabbed the box in his hands, scanning over the instructions written on the side and whispering to himself. He placed it back down, jumped to his feet, and grabbed his wand out of his pocket. Pointed it down at the snakes and looking much healthier all of a sudden - apparently the excitement of the situation was enough to momentarily cure him - he glanced back up at me.

"Ready?" he breathed, and I nodded.

He muttered a series of incantations, and the snakes disappeared behind a flash of light before springing to life, slithering over the net and each other at a frighteningly rapid pace. They looked so eerily real that I subconsciously jumped backwards, keeping my hand wrapped around my wand for protection as the snakes closest to my feet drew closer to the edge of the net.

Sirius worked surprisingly quick for his condition, however, and had the net levitating in seconds. It hovered in the air above us, each corner lifted so the snakes wouldn't escape; the glistening underbellies of the fake creatures were somehow even more intimidating than their backs, and I dropped my gaze, suddenly feeling queasy again.

"Were you a bit frightened there?" Sirius grinned at me, his composure completely changed. He looked like a giddy child, exhilarated by the prospect of troublemaking.

"No," I sniffed, and he gazed at me with a more subtle smile before leaning down and pulling out the two bags still in the box, "But I'm glad to see you're having the fun you were hoping for," I added, fighting to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

I wasn't having any fun; how dare he?

"I'm in my element, love," he sighed, then stiffened, dropping his gaze uncomfortably. We both shuffled our feet a little bit; I busied myself with tracing the shapes someone had carved into the desk in front of me as Sirius ripped open the bags of sweets a hint too loudly, presumably to alleviate some of the tension in the room.

I could see him pull one of the Bed Wetter's candies out of the container and place it on Mulciber's desk out of the corner of my eye; after he'd pulled a handful of salt water taffies - I felt a hint of pride for my good eye when I saw how similar the two sweets really did look - out of the other bag, he handed it to me gingerly.

"Help me put one on each desk?" he asked, and I silently took the bag from him, heading to the front of the room. I walked up and down the aisles, placing a taffy at everyone's seat until Sirius and I came face to face in the center of the classroom.

With a quick glance around to make sure we hadn't missed anyone, I held out the bag out to Sirius until he'd sifted all of his remaining sweets back in, then threw it back into the box to join its companion. We both sank into random seats, and he pointed his wand at the box lazily.

"Evanesco," he muttered with a flourish of the wand, and the box disappeared to who-knows-where. It's absence made the room feel even emptier; I glanced at the clock on the wall, urging it to move faster so I wouldn't have to be alone with Sirius anymore.

I watched as he again mumbled a spell under his breath, this time with his wand pointed towards the snakes; they too disappeared, though, this time, only from sight. He leaned back in his seat, looking around, until his gaze finally fell on me.

"I didn't forget anything, did I?" he asked, and I shrugged.

"Everything looks fine to me," I told him, "As long as Peeves follows through, we should be good,"

He nodded, then sat up suddenly.

"Are you going to Vanish the net?" he asked, "Or am I?"

"I reckon I'll be able to do it," I shrugged again, "Why?"

He ignored my question, deciding to instead cast "Lumos" and "Nox" several times over and over again. I stared, wondering if I was the only one that had gone mad, until he finally stopped, then stared up at me with a pleased grin as if he'd done something incredibly clever.

"You ever heard of Prior Incantato?" he asked excitedly.

"No," I replied warily.

"Right, well, it's this spell you can use on someone else's wand to see the last few spells they used," he explained, "I reckon, after you Vanish the net, you should do the same thing I just did in your pocket or...or something..." he faltered, looking at my amused expression with a frown.

"We're pulling a prank, not assassinating the Minister of Magic," I shook my head.

"Better be safe than sorry," he mumbled under his breath, looking somewhat embarrassed, and shot me a glare when I snorted, "What?"

"That's ironic, coming from you," I raised an eyebrow, "Besides, you do realize all of our friends will know it was us, don't you?"

"What? How?" he asked fretfully, sitting up even straighter and looking perplexed.

"They've surely noticed that we're nowhere to be found," I pointed out, "After this all happens, they'll easily put two and two together,"

It was true; they'd definitely noticed neither Sirius nor I were in our dormitories, the common room, or the Great Hall, and with their insistence on believing things that weren't true, all of them but Lily would automatically assume we were together. Once we were all piled into Defense Against the Dark Arts and everything went into action, I doubted it'd take them long to connect it to our mysterious disappearance.

At least they'd finally have an answer as to what we had been doing every time we were supposedly tutoring. It would definitely be a relief when they stopped pestering me with their knowing smiles and suggestively raised eyebrows, though just imagining Lily's inevitable disapproval once she knew the truth was enough to make my stomach drop.

"Well," Sirius finally spoke, slowly, "We still have half an hour before class starts. Should we go to breakfast then?"

"We probably should," I agreed, standing up, "It'll definitely be less suspicious if we're not the first ones in here,"

I watched as Sirius rose to his feet with some difficulty, wincing and barely restraining himself from groaning once more. His hand lifted momentarily, as if to grab his head again, but he saw me looking and dropped it immediately, scowling to himself instead.

"Plus some food might make you feel better," I added once we'd left the room, and he looked over at me with surprise.

"You're not angry anymore?" he asked hopefully, but his face fell slightly when I grimaced in response.

"Oh, I'm angry," I said truthfully, "But I'd rather not have to deal with you whining and groaning all day,"

"Don't be angry," he said quietly, "That really wasn't my intention,"

"Then what was?" I asked, suddenly just as annoyed again, and he peered at me with wide eyes for long enough that it was starting to confuse me. Just as I opened my mouth to ask him what the hell he was doing, however, he dropped his gaze and shrugged, dragging his feet against the floor.

I stared incredulously, trying to obtain any sense of what was going through his head, but to do so was already impossible enough when he was sober. My irritation growing by the second, I quickened my pace, always two steps ahead of him until we reached the Great Hall right as students were beginning to pile out on their way to class.

I walked along one side of the table and Sirius along the other. We slid into our respective seats, though not as conspicuously as I would have liked; all of our friends pushed away their empty plates and looked between us inquisitorially. I glared back at them, daring them to say a word - Sirius really had put me in an awful mood - and Sirius kept his eyes locked on the table, blindly groping for a piece of toast and shoving the whole thing in his mouth.

"Where have you been?" Lily was the first to ask, clearly completely unaffected by the murderous look on my face. Instead, she looked concerned and more than a little uncertain, clearly confused by the fact that Sirius and I had been together after our chat the previous night.

Everyone else, who had been smiling to themselves when we'd first walked in, was now noticing our strange behavior and beginning to shift their expressions into something more doubtful.

"I hadn't finished my Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment on time," Sirius mumbled through a mouthful of food, always quick to come up with an excuse, "She was helping me complete it in the library,"

"Why does Charlotte look like she's stepped in a pile of dragon dung then?" James asked, sweeping his gaze over my face.

"Why don't you ask Sirius?" I responded when everyone glanced at me expectantly, angrily taking a large bite out of an apple. Sirius finally looked up at me, looking more pained than ever, and not just physically; I assumed he wasn't entirely willing to spill his confession to everyone.

"Charlotte is, er, disappointed in me," he began, not breaking eye contact with me, which I was glad to see didn't have the same effect on me that it usually would have, "Because..."

"Merlin, you've been drinking," Lily cut him off with a gasp, finally piecing together his appearance with my demeanor, and Sirius' face twisted ashamedly, "It's a Tuesday,"

"My words exactly," I chimed in.

"That's strange even for you, mate," James said, peering at his friend with concern.

"Did something happen?" Remus asked from Sirius' other side, "If it was something with your family, you can tell us-" he whispered, and I felt suddenly guilty that I hadn't even considered that as a possibility.

"No," Sirius said firmly, and the guilt dissolved again, "I-"

"Who were you with?" Peter asked, sounding half excited and half envious.

"I bet you were with those Hufflepuff girls," Mary said bitterly, shooting daggers at the Hufflepuff table - though whether on her own behalf or mine, I wasn't sure.

"No wonder he looks like that," Isabelle muttered quietly from Lily's other side, "When he walked in here in with Charlotte looking all mussed up, I thought-"

"I really should do something about this," Lily said loudly, casting me a quick apologetic glance, "As a prefect, and all,"

"Let's not do anything hasty here," Remus shook his head, still looking at Sirius, "I really do think something's wrong-"

"But, Remus, it's our duty-"

"Can't you forget about your duty for once, Evans?" James sighed, and Lily blinked at him reproachfully, "Our friend is clearly in pain,"

"I'm not in pain," Sirius frowned, and James patted him on the shoulder.

"You can tell us, mate," he said soothingly, "What is it? Did you finally realize that I'm actually much better looking than you and you just couldn't take it?"

Sirius gave him one exasperated glance, then groaned and dropped his head onto the table.

"Well done, James," Scarlett scolded, and he shrugged, looking sheepish.

"Will everyone please just shut up?" Sirius spoke up, his voice muffled by the fact that his lips were squished against an empty plate.

"That's probably a good idea," Remus agreed, coming to the rescue and still not taking his father-like gaze off of his friend, "Considering we've got about ten minutes to get to class,"

Everyone scrambled to their feet, following his lead, and headed towards the door, but Lily grabbed me by the elbow, pulling me next to her and staring at me with wide eyes.

"Charlotte," she whispered, "Do you think this...behavior," she frowned, gesturing towards Sirius, who was loping behind the rest of the group looking both cross and bewildered, "Has anything to do with what you told me last night?"

"Yes," I answered matter-of-factly, stepping closer to her when we rounded the end of the table and he ended up right next to me, "I think he was so scandalized by the prospect of having feelings for anyone that he had to go prove his own manliness," I grumbled into her ear, and she shook her head forcefully, her eyes growing wider by the second.

"No, I mean-" she began, but I held up a hand, cutting her off.

"Hold on a second," I told her.

Nicholas Perdue and the rest of his Ravenclaw friends had fallen into step beside us as we exited the Great Hall, and as I looked over at them, he glanced over at me at the same time. He looked momentarily surprised for a moment, but smiled warmly at me once the initial shock disappeared.

It was a nice smile, completely unlike Sirius' mischievous smirk that always made him look as if he was hiding something each time he grinned at you. This one was friendly and made Nicholas' already pleasant face even nicer to look at.

I had noticed that he was attractive before - with his short blonde curls and round brown eyes - but he'd always paled in comparison to Sirius. Perhaps, however, someone like Nicholas would be better for me; he was an average student, a decent Quidditch player, an overall nice guy. He was normal.

And he seemed to be interested in me, which was more than I could say about anyone else at the moment.

I took one glance at the drunken mess that was Sirius, and, looking back at Nicholas' radiant smile, made up my mind.

"Hey, Nicholas," I called out, stepping away from Lily and past Sirius, whose head shot up when I spoke, and strolling alongside the Ravenclaws instead.

"Oh, um, hi, Charlotte," he said uncertainly, though the smile still hadn't disappeared off his face. I grinned back, ignoring the fact that seemingly all of my friends, and his as well, had taken notice to what I was doing and were all watching me curiously.

"You've been looking at me in Herbology lately, yeah?" I whispered, nudging him with my elbow lightly. I was surprised to see how much easier it was to talk to him in such a manner than it was with Sirius; not a single ounce of me was the least bit nervous.

"Oh," Nicholas repeated, his cheeks adopting a faint pink tint, "I didn't think you'd noticed,"

"Oh, I have," I said brightly, "But don't worry, I think it's cute," I said quietly, hoping I sounded as coquettish as I meant to and not like I had something stuck in my throat.

"Oh," he breathed yet again, and I beamed. It felt nice to be the one making someone else nervous for once instead of the other way around, "Do you..." he began, then grinned and swatted at his friend, who had just whispered something to him, "Do you think I'm cute?" he asked, sounding considerably more sure of himself.

"I think you're adorable," I purred, stepping even closer to him until our arms brushed against each other with each step we took.

"Well, in that case," he raised an eyebrow, his voice loud enough for everyone to hear, "Could I be cute with you? Say, tonight? Around five?"

I paused, placing a finger on my chin and pretending to think.

"Sure," I said finally, and someone stumbled and let out a choked noise behind me.

"Well, great," he grinned just as we neared the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, "I'll meet you at your tower. Bye, Charlotte,"

"Bye," I called after him, and he smiled once more before turning and rejoining his friends. I watched for several moments as they clapped him on the back in congratulations, feeling a strange combination of satisfaction and sadness, then turned to look at my friends, who were standing outside the classroom door and staring at me.

Sirius - who I reluctantly swept my gaze over - was gaping at me open-mouthed as if he had no idea who I was, James had his head tilted as if trying to determine what exactly had just happened, Remus looked utterly perplexed, Scarlett's eyebrows had just about met her hairline, Mary looked like she'd been hit in the head with a Bludger, Isabelle looked miffed, and Lily seemed fit to burst into tears. Only Peter, clueless as ever, was grinning at me happily.

"What is with you lot?" I asked heatedly.

"What is with you?" Isabelle retorted.

"Where did that even come from?" James added, still looking confused, though he also appeared slightly impressed. Remus was shaking his head, entirely in awe.

"Just because I haven't had a boyfriend in a while," I sniffed, "Doesn't mean I'm destined to be alone forever,"

"That's not what we mean and you know it," Mary hissed, casting what was supposed to be an indiscreet glance at Sirius, though, judging by the look on his face, he wasn't listening to a single word anyone was saying anyway.

"Class is about to start. We can talk about this afterwards," Lily spoke up, but averted her gaze when I gave her a thankful look, "For now, let's just be happy for Charlotte,"

Everyone gave me one last strange look before turning and walking through the door of the classroom. Remus kept glancing over his shoulder at me, and the girls were all huddled up and whispering furiously to one another; soon, only Sirius and I were left in the corridor.

He took one look at me and stepped towards the door, but I grabbed him by the sleeve of his robe. He stared down at my fingers strangely, and I dropped my hand.

"Sirius," I whispered, and he blinked at me, "When should I Vanish the net?"

"What?" he asked stupidly, then blinked several more times, "Oh, right. The net. Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll do it,"

"But I-"

"I'll do it," he repeated firmly, then turned on his heel and loped through the door.

I stared after him with etched eyebrows; this time, I was the one that was confused.

A/N: Ok, first of all, I've been obsessing over this for over a week now, so can I just say that I am completely hellbent on the idea of Gaspard Ulliel as a young Sirius? A. He is actually the literal embodiment of the image of Sirius I've had in my head since, like, forever, and B. The man is fine as hell. Honestly, he's frickin gorgeous.

Alright, now that I've got that off my chest, I know I said this would be the chapter with the prank but it ended up much longer than I thought it would, so the actual prank itself is going to have to happen in the next chapter. Sorry!

Thank you all times a million and one for your reviews! You totally exceeded my expectations (heh) and I love you for it. :')