"Do you ever stop eating?" Leila said. She and Harry were at breakfast several days later, and fortunately she was addressing Jeremy instead of Harry.

"Why should I?" he said, though his words were barely distinguishable through a mouthful of blueberry muffin.

"Well, if you don't stop soon, you'll be as big as a whale," she said primly. "Pass the salt."

"Not to you, not after you've just insulted me!" Jeremy exclaimed. Harry was very glad his friend had remembered to swallow first.

"Fine. It's not by you anyway. Harry?"

Harry passed her the salt, grinning at their playful banter. For two people who used to be going out, Leila and Jeremy certainly didn't act the ways exes normally acted—hurt, betrayed, or bitter. But Harry was more occupied with watching Ron out of the corner of his eye. Though Jeremy continued his conversation with Leila, Harry knew his friend was also taking subtle glances at the red-head.

Ron was laughing at something Lavender said… now he was eating his bacon… a Ravenclaw was passing and Ron was winking at her… he was reaching for his goblet of pumpkin juice…

Harry held his breath. Jeremy stopped what he was saying mid-sentence and stared as well.

Leila looked back and forth from Harry to Jeremy with a confused expression on her face. "What is up with you two?"

"Shhh!" Jeremy hissed. "I want to see this!"

Ron lifted his goblet and took a long draught. He set it back down. A Ravenclaw prefect walked by and asked Ron if he'd be in the library later. Ron turned, grinned, and said, "Do you want to snog me in the broom cupboard?"

The girl looked confused. "Ronald? What did you just ask me?"

Ron's eyebrows furrowed. "Do you want to snog me in the broom cupboard?"

Harry and Jeremy dissolved into muffled laughs. Leila's eyes widened. "No," she breathed. "You didn't…"

By now Terry Boot had come over. "Ron? Are you feeling alright?"

Ron looked angry. "Do you want to snog me in the broom cupboard?" he said, his face growing red.

Harry laughed again at the shocked expression on Terry's face. Suddenly he felt a blow land on his arm.

"You prat!" Leila squealed. "You spiked his drink!"

"Actually, Jeremy did," Harry said, grinning at her.

"Where'd you get the Repeating-Phrase Potion?" she said. "I know for a fact Slughorn doesn't waste time brewing it, and it's really complicated..."

Jeremy wiggled his eyebrows. "Ask us no questions, we'll tell you no lies."

Fortunately for Ron, and to Harry's and Jeremy's disappointment, it only took a few minutes for the Ravenclaws to figure out the problem. They told Ron not to say anything else, then dragged him off to the Hospital Wing for some counteracting potions. Ron went willingly, shooting glares at Jeremy and Harry over his shoulder.

"That was marvelous!" Jeremy exclaimed once Ron had left.

"Yeah," Harry said, laughing.

Leila was still trying to look disapproving, but Harry could see the corners of her mouth were twitching.

"So, the Marauders strike again," someone said jovially from behind Harry.

"Hey, Sirius," Harry greeted his godfather.

"That wasn't a bad prank," Sirius continued. "James and I pulled that one on McGonagall in our fourth year."

"What?" Leila exclaimed. "What did she say?"

"She said, 'I have on a pink thong,' for the entire noon meal," Sirius said. "Hey, Harry, I was wondering, d'you want to meet me at eight again tonight?"

"I've got Quidditch practice," Harry said regretfully. "How about tomorrow night?"

"Done," Sirius said, slapping Harry's back. "I'll see you there."

The first Quidditch game was speeding closer. Despite being so busy, Harry was still able to find time to go on midnight adventures with Sirius. These opportunities, however, became farther and farther apart as 15 November neared. The Quidditch team was now hogging the pitch whenever the Slytherins weren't practicing. Besides that, with Christmas just around the corner, the professors were beginning to give out monstrous amounts of homework. On top of practices, homework, detentions, prefect duties, and nighttime strolls with his godfather, Harry was having to watch his back constantly.

Needless to say, Jeremy's and Harry's first retaliatory on Ron had been a smashing success, but now the three were involved in an all-out prank war. Harry and Jeremy had gone back to their dorm that night, congratulating themselves on their—or Fred's and George's—brilliance, only to find that their beds had been jinxed to feel like beds of nails as soon as they laid down.

It was no problem, really, because Harry just slipped Jeremy out of the Gryffindor tower under the Invisibility Cloak. The Room of Requirement provided two nice beds, and even decorated itself in Gryffindor colours for the boys. The tricky part turned out to be getting the jinxes removed. The next day, it took the combined efforts of Harry, Jeremy, Leila, Melissa, and Daphne Greengrass, who was particularly good at Charms, before the beds were finally comfortable to lie on again.

The next day, Ron was plagued by singing valentines that were all signed by Millicent Bulstrode, though the Slytherin girl swore up and down she'd never sent the notes.

"We're fighting a loosing battle," Harry said dejectedly as he and Jeremy walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room one evening. They'd just been to see Madam Pomphrey for the fourth time that week, having each grown six-inch long donkey ears. Harry had to admit—the Ravenclaws were creative. It had taken the school nurse over an hour to sort out exactly which hexes had been used to give Harry and Jeremy the ears.

"Yeah," Jeremy said, kicking at an old set of armor as they passed by. "I mean, we've got Fred and George behind us, and they're the most brilliant pranksters in the history of Hogwarts." Harry disagreed, thinking of the Marauders, but he said nothing. "But Ron," his friend continued, "he's got the entire Ravenclaw house behind him!"

Harry sighed. He knew it was true; he had seen Ron surrounded by Terry Boot, Michael Corner, Mandy Brocklehurst, and the other seventh year Ravenclaws in the library, pouring over books and whispering excitedly, occasionally throwing sinister looks over at Harry and Jeremy.

But whether it had come from Harry's rescuing Ginny from Azkaban, inviting Ron to be on the team, or the pretty impressive pranks Ron had endured, there was one thing different about Ron now that Harry really appreciated. Ron was actually showing him respect. They didn't talk much, but Ron never contradicted him at Quidditch practices, or even made sarcastic comments any more. Harry had a feeling that even the prank war was now just simply good fun. Ron never even seemed angry when he became the victim of Harry's and Jeremy's latest prank.

"Password?" the Fat Lady asked primly, interrupting Harry's thoughts.

"Romance," Jeremy said darkly, and the Fat Lady sighed dramatically, throwing one hand to her head in what she must have that looked like a damsel-in-distress pose. Harry just rolled his eyes. The Fat Lady had fallen n love a few weeks earlier with a knight three paintings over and one painting up. Since then, she had been a hopeless romantic and all the passwords had been related in some way to her latest fad.

Harry followed his friend into the Common Room. "Are you going to bed?" he asked when Jeremy headed for the stairs.

Jeremy turned, incredulous. "Are you joking? We've got Transfiguration and Potions tomorrow. And Darryl assigned twenty-two pages of translation. I'm just going upstairs to get my books."

"I'll join you," Harry said, thinking he'd be lucky if he got his revising done before midnight.

Two hours later, the candles were burning low, and Harry had finished Transfiguration and was just starting on Potions. Leila still hadn't come in, and he'd already checked with one of his sister's dorm mates that she wasn't in the dorm. "Merlin's beard, where is she?" Harry muttered.

"Relax, mate, she can take care of herself," Jeremy said, not looking up from the Runes translation he was labouring over.

"Easy for you to say! It's not your sister who's been sneaking out every night," Harry shot back.

Jeremy grinned sheepishly. "Too right. But I'm sure she'll be OK."

Harry turned back to his homework, but he couldn't get Leila off his mind. Where was she? What was she doing? What did she have to hide? Was she in danger? This wasn't the first time she'd snuck off. In fact, almost every night they didn't have Quidditch practice, Leila was missing from the Common Room; every night she claimed she'd been doing detention, or studying in the library, or talking to a teacher, or hanging out with Luna, but Harry knew he was missing something. How could he be sure she was safe?

Suddenly he remembered.

"I am such an idiot," Harry muttered to himself as he bounded up the stairs to the seventh years' dormitory. "Lumos," he whispered, creeping along the beds, trying not to wake his dorm-mates. Harry quietly opened his trunk and fished around in it. Finally he found what he was looking for. Underneath the Invisibility Cloak, Azkaban book, and the letter to his Mum he'd found in the attic, he grasped the Marauders' Map.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," Harry panted, tapping the wand, once he'd reached the Common Room again. He threw the map on the table.

The lines appeared, and Jeremy and Harry leaned over it. "Don't you think this is spying?" Jeremy asked skeptically.

"Nah, I'm just making sure she's OK, that's all," Harry replied.

They searched the map, but to no avail. "She's not on the map," Jeremy declared.

"She has to be," Harry insisted. "Look again!"

But Leila was no where to be seen.

"She must have gone to Hogsmeade," Jeremy stated.

"Yeah," Harry mumbled. But the question was still lingering on his mind: Why? What was his sister hiding?

By the time the two went to bed, Leila was still not back, nor had she showed up on the map.

"So, where do you want to go tonight?" Sirius asked.

"I don't really care," Harry said honestly. He and Sirius had met once again in the entry way.

Sirius cocked an eyebrow. "You don't?"

Harry shook his head. It had been a long, stressful day, and all he wanted to do was fly; it'd be nice to leave his problems on the ground.

"Anywhere it is, then," said Sirius, grinning. "Should I lead, or you?"

"You'd better lead," Harry said seriously. "If I lead, you'll be left in the dust."

Harry made the fastest transformation and take off in his life to avoid the blow his godfather aimed at his shoulder.

The night air was cool and crisp. October had been relatively warm, but with the first week of November had come the cold northern wind and icy rains. Harry was glad that this night was clear. He wasn't at all cold; layers of thick protective feathers protected him from the harsh wind. Instead of fighting the stiff currents of air, Harry let them carry him, and used his wings for direction. He soared in high, lazy circles around the large black dog below.

Harry flew a bit ahead, swooping down around the Herbology greenhouses. He was about to double back to let Padfoot catch up, when he suddenly spotted movement inside one of long, glass-covered structures. The Hogwarts greenhouses were magically heated and lighted year round, and as Harry got closer, he could make out the shadows of two people inside. He quickly looped around and landed next to Padfoot, who had stopped on the crest of a little hill and was sniffing the air.

Harry transformed, suddenly shivering against the wind. He pulled his jumper close, glad he'd thrown it on before he'd left the tower.

"There're two people in the first greenhouse," he informed his godfather.

Padfoot sniffed once more, then transformed. He looked anxiously in the direction Harry had just flown from. "Let's turn around," Sirius said tensely. There was something in his voice Harry couldn't read. "How about a Firewhiskey at the Hog's Head?"

Harry suddenly had the strange suspicion that Sirius was trying to keep him away from the greenhouses for a reason. His godfather usually would have been the first to dash in as Padfoot on the unsuspecting people and plant his muddy paws on their robes, barking excitedly.

"Why? It's probably just a couple Hogwarts students who snuck out to check on their Herbology gardens," Harry said. "They won't even recognize us if we run by."

Sirius shifted uncomfortably. "They might recognize me. It might be teachers."

Now Harry was really suspicious. "You're an unregistered Animagus! How would they recognize you?"

His godfather shrugged, unwilling to answer the question. "Harry, please…let's just leave."

"I'm going to fly above," Harry said, eying Sirius. "They won't recognize me. I just want to see who it is."

Before Sirius could protest, Harry transformed and leapt into the air. He gained altitude and soared over the glass greenhouses. Harry could easily make out the long rows of magical plants and fungi. Near the end of the rows was a section blocked off and surrounded by signs that read, "Come no closer!" and "Danger!" Inside the gated square grew the really dangerous plants like the Man-Eating Mango Tree, and the Deadly Dandelion.

The two people were in the very center of the greenhouse, and it was obvious that they weren't professors, and they definitely weren't there to check their gardens. It looked more like they were checking out each other. The two were standing far too close to be just talking, anyway. They were passionately snogging.

Harry angled a little closer, curious as to who the people were. When he got a good look as their faces, however, he nearly crashed into the side of the greenhouse.

It was Leila.

Her lips were glued to a tall, stringy boy with dark brown hair…and a green and silver crest on his robes.

Theodore Nott was snogging his sister.

Author's Note: The prank war was really fun to write about. The plot thickens… Get ready for a large-scale shouting scene! Now we know where Leila's been going, huh?

I've finally caught up with myself, I think. Anyway, I don't have the next chapter completely finished, but I think I'll have it up by tomorrow.

Please review! I love reviews.