"McGonagall wants to see you two," Remus announced in my ear, making me jump.

I pried my eyes open. The sun was coming in through the window in the common room. I stretched. "What time is it?" I asked.

"Lunch," Peter replied. He was going through the books in his bag.

"Lunch?" Sirius asked, staggered. "How? Have you two been to classes already?"

Remus nodded. "Yep. And, as I warned you this morning…"

"You warned us of something?" I asked, yawning. "When?" I vaguely remember dreaming of a cat with Remus' face meowing in my ears, and me grumbling and drifting back to sleep.

"... Flitwick and Binns both noticed. Told McGonagall now. She wants to see you in her office. Both of you," he added, not letting the interruption actually interrupt him.

"Binns hasn't even noticed yet that he's dead," Sirius groaned from the depths of the blankets, "How in the bloody hell did he notice we weren't there?"

"Just our luck," I groaned back.

Professor McGonagall sat behind her desk, her square spectacles low on her nose, staring at us in our seats across from her. She had her hands folded on her knee, waiting. Sirius and I didn't dare exchange looks, but each kept our eyes focused on different things. Sirius stared at the pattern of the wood on her desk while my eyes skimmed over the books in the shelves behind her. They were old textbooks, many quite ragged, and included volumes with funny names like Purrfecting Myself: A Memoir, Registration and Boring Other Topics You'll Need to Know To Turn, and So You Want to Be an Animagus? I wondered what they were about.

The clock ticked aimlessly behind us.

Finally Professor McGonagall took her glasses off all the way, folding them carefully and putting them on her desk. "Miss Stratford, Mister Black… let's make this easier on all of us, shall we?"

I looked up at her.

"I know that you were both absent from multiple classes… not just today, but yesterday as well. Is that correct?" she asked, eyebrows raised.

I looked down at my knees, ashamed of the answer.

"Well?" she asked.

"Yes," squeaked Sirius.

McGonagall nodded. "That's what I thought," she said. "And I suppose, Mister Black… Miss Stratford, that it is a coincidence, then, that you go missing from class and mysterious break-ins have happened to Argus Filch's office during the exact times during which you should have been in class?"

I gulped. Sirius looked away.

She sighed, shaking her head, and set herself back in her chair. "Do either of you care to tell me what exactly has possessed you to sneak into Filch's office and steal other students' files?" she questioned.

I looked up in confusion, "Students' files?" I asked, emphasising the plural.

"Yes, Stratford," replied McGonagall, "Student files! Three, to be exact. Bilius Weasley, Lucius Malfoy, and Severus Snape. Their files have all gone missing from Mr. Filch's drawers."

I looked at Sirius in honest confusion. Sure, we'd taken Bilius Weasley's, but the other two… who would want to read about Malfoy or Snape? Sirius looked just as clueless as I felt. He turned to look up at McGonagall, "But, professor, we haven't taken all those files," he said.

Professor McGonagall glowered down at him, trying to discern whether he was telling the truth or not. Sirius stared right back at her, quite confidently. I did, too. She pursed her lips.

McGonagall stood up, looming over us quite ominously. She stared into our eyes in turn, and said, "Bare in mind, that I will be looking after you both, making sure nothing of this sort happens again. I will not put up with hearing about Gryffindor students marauding about the castle, up to no good at every turn." She sighed and glanced at the clock on her wall, which began to chime, a funny little cuckoo bird popping out of a little house. "It's time for us all three to get to Transfiguration class with your fellow first years," she said. She paused as my belly growled loudly. "Now, am I correct in saying neither of you made it down to the Great Hall to eat?"

We both nodded, and I clutched my stomach.

McGonagall waved her wand and a tray of sandwiches appeared on her desk, spinning to a stop before our very eyes. "Have a sandwich," she commanded, "And come along to class."

Sirius and I grabbed handfuls of sandwiches, stacking them upon one another so that we had quite a good amount between us, and McGonagall magicked the sandwich tray away as easily as she'd conjured it. Holding the door open, she watched as we passed her by, already stuffing the sandwiches into our mouths, and then she locked the door to her office behind her securely.

"Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape's files?" Remus asked, looking at Sirius and I with furrowed eyebrows, pondering the news we shared. "Who would steal their files, though? And, better yet, why?" he mused, rubbing his chin.

James, Sirius, Remus and I were sitting around their dorm, while Peter went to get snacks from the kitchens. Sirius and I had filled Remus and James in on all the things Professor McGonagall had told us when she called us to her office, and, although Remus thought it very unfair that we'd skived so many classes and only gotten sandwiches for it, he was still intrigued by the facts of the story.

"That's all McGonagall said about it," I said with a shrug, "Apparently whoever's done it was in Filch's office this morning, when Sirius and I were asleep."

"I bet it was ol' Snivelly," James announced.

"Why would Severus steal his own file?" demanded Remus sensibly.

Sirius answered, "To make it look like it wasn't him who's done it!"

Remus rolled his eyes, and turned to James, who was idly rummaging through Bilius Weasley's file, "Is it only the detention notes in there, or are there other things, like marks and addresses and all that?"

James flipped back a few pages, "I mean it's basically just Filch's notes about misdoings but sure, there's a section of your typical information - you know, the birthday, addresses, blood status, and that lot." He shrugged. "Why?"

"Well maybe whoever stole the notes was interested in that information, rather than their detention records?" Remus suggested.

Sirius was laying on his back. "Nobody really wants to know anything about that lot. Not for any good reason, anyway."

Peter came back then with a bag full of food he'd knicked from the kitchens, and we laid about on the floor of the dorm, doing homework and laughing over jokes that we'd made with each other as we studied, the mysterious disappearances of the files forgotten, for the most part.

SummerTheSlytherinApricot says, "awwwww ok i ship it so much! And soft, scared Sirius gives me reasons to live. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Thank you for giving my life meaning ahahahahah. But this is so good! I'm just a lil bit addicted."

This is so sweet of you, I'm giggling with happiness right now. And yeah, soft Sirius is best Sirius. I want to handle the abuse in his household very delicately, so I figured that while ultimately James is his best mate, Sabrina could always be a shoulder to cry on.