15th February, 1972

With each passing day, Sirius got more and more angry that nothing seemed to be done about You-Know-Who hanging out with two students in the dungeons, and it was showing in his attitude. He was being quite sassy, talking back to even the teachers. Professor Flitwick seemed at a loss when Sirius had snapped at him during the morning Charms lesson, but Professor McGonagall was much less inclined to put up with him.

"Mister Black, I recommend that you check your attitude at the door, unless you fancy a detention," she said hotly when he had muttered about his lack of trust in the faculty of Hogwarts beneath his breath during Transfiguration.

"We need to do something," Sirius said this evening while the rest of us were nearly falling asleep trying to get our Potions essay done.

"Go to sleep or something, mate," yawned James, "Let Dumbledore handle it, we've already done what we could."

Sirius shook his head. "You four don't understand how bad this all is, how bad You-Know-Who is...how bad he makes people." He scowled.

"Well you can't do anything about it by pacing 'round the common room, Sirius," said Remus pragmatically, "Especially not at this hour. Get some rest."

The look in Sirius' eyes told me that he would likely be thinking about something while he was trying to get rest, anyway.

16th February, 1972

This morning, as the boys and I met up in the common room to head to breakfast, I noticed we were missing someone. I was about to ask where Sirius was, when the portrait hole opened, and the boy in question climbed through.

"Where were you?" I asked.

Sirius merely shrugged. "Don't worry about it." I eyed him suspiciously as we headed down to the Great Hall.

During breakfast, we were eating our beans and toast when the owls flew in to deliver the morning mail. James was bragging about a box of Cherry Salamanders his mum had sent him when Sirius suddenly perked up, his eyes wide with excitement. Remus and I glanced over his shoulder to see what he was so excited about, but neither of us could see anything.

"What's going on, mate?" Remus asked.

Sirius was grinning. "I'll tell you later!" he jumped up, tossing his book bag over his shoulder and darted from the table.

"Well alright then," James muttered, shaking his head, "Bloody mad, he is."

I frowned, staring after Sirius as he ducked out of the Great Hall.

Peter snatched up the rest of Sirius' beans and poured them over his own toast.

In Herbology, Sirius had explained what he did. He used one of the school owls to send Lucius Malfoy a note from You-Know-Who, saying to speak in the 'usual place'. Once that was done, he dragged Professor Moody to the prefect's toilet, where he found...nothing. It seemed like the mirror was gone, and Moody had told him that "Constant vigilance can be kept from afar."

I shook my head, how stupid IS he? "You didn't expect Malfoy to leave his stuff where Dumbledore knew to look for it now, did you?" I hissed quietly as we worked on our plants. "Of course he's packed it up and moved his things elsewhere!"

"How do you move a whole wall's worth of mirror?" demanded Sirius, "And where to? How are we supposed to get him caught now if he's moving his office all over the place?"

I shrugged, "How am I supposed to know?"

"Dumbledore's not an imbecile, Sirius," voiced Remus, "He has it under control. We don't have to do anything."

"Yeah, Sirius," echoed Peter, "Dumbledore's got it under control."

Sirius frowned, "We thought Tutman had it all under control, too. Great lot we knew about that, though, wasn't it?"

James rolled his eyes, "Tutman is not Dumbledore."

We switched to go back to focusing on the task at hand as Professor Viridi walked by. The moment she'd passed on to the next group, Sirius said, "I didn't say Tutman was Dumbledore, he's not anywhere near as powerful as that, obviously, but Dumbledore's got a lot to deal with. Maybe he isn't paying as much attention to this as he ought to be. Maybe he thinks Lucius Malfoy isn't really dangerous. Wouldn't be the first time an adult underestimated what a kid's getting into based on the fact that they're a kid," he added.

"Dumbledore knows better than to take something lightly if it shouldn't be," Remus said.

"Does he really?" asked Sirius, rounding on him, "The man who lets a werewolf on the school grounds isn't capable of underestimating the dangers something poses?"

Remus' face turned red. I put my hand on Remus' shoulder and glared at Sirius, nostrils flaring. "That's out of line, Black,"

James and Peter both looked quite surprised.

"Sorry," Sirius said, looking down at his hands as guilt flushed through him. "I didn't mean that as nasty as it sounded. I just...I mean…" he stammered.

Remus shook his head, "No, no...it's alright. On the contrary. I think you have a point."

"I'm sorry," Sirius said solemnly, looking Remus in the eye. "I don't think you're dangerous. Certainly not as dangerous as that Slytherin scum." His eyebrows knit together seriously. "I swear it, Remus."

Remus forced a weak little smile. "It's alright, mate, really." He waved off the apology. I rubbed Remus' shoulder, and we went back to work on our Herbology assignment in silence, our hands pressing against the warm greenhouse mud, despite the icy cold blowing against the windows.

"Maybe he's made the mirror a smaller mirror," said Peter suddenly.

We all looked at Peter in surprise, "What?" I asked.

The very tips of Peter's ears turned red. "Malfoy and Snape. Maybe they've made the mirror from the prefect's toilet smaller somehow, like a hand mirror or something. That piece you have still works, doesn't it, Sirius? The same as the rest of the wall? Perhaps Malfoy's broken the mirror into smaller bits."

"Blimey, Peter, you're bloody brilliant!" exclaimed Sirius excitedly, his eyes flashing, "That's got to be it. You're right. He's probably made the mirror smaller...he's a seventh year...of course he would know the spells to do something like that. Something like engorgio except the opposite way, you know?"

"I'll bet he's got it in the Slytherin dormitory," agreed James eagerly, nodding, "So now all we've got to do is get into the Slytherin common room and-"

Remus' eyebrows raised. "Excuse me, what?"

"-steal back the mirror for Moody to see!" James finished with a flourish.

Remus looked, shocked at the two of them, as Sirius nodded excitedly at James' idea. "Oi- you two have got to be joking!"

"We've got to get Malfoy caught," I said, shrugging. "It can't be that hard to get into the common room."

"You're mad," Remus stammered. "You're all bloody mad."