A/N: I must apologise to all my faithful and patient fans out there! I have been remiss in updating this story, however, hopefully I can continue to set a good pace for chapter updates from now on. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews and interest in my story, you have made this humble author smile so many times. :) Keep enjoying and keep reviewing and letting me know you're still enjoying. Thank you.

Time is the school in which we learn, time is the fire in which we burn. - Delmore Schwartz

The train sat in the station, belching steam over the milling crowds of people. Harry smiled, glad to be returning to Hogwarts, beside him Sirius yawned and stretched. Mrs. Weasley and the others said their farewells and they boarded the train, finding a compartment together. Ron and Hermione said good bye and moved away to do their Prefects duties, leaving Sirius and Harry to get a compartment.

Sirius stared out the window, his hair falling elegantly into his eyes as Harry pushed Hedwig's cage onto the rack before flopping down at his side. The train began pulling out of the station, Sirius watched the smoke puff past his window and felt a slight pull in his stomach as the Hogwarts Express moved forward, slowly gaining momentum. "So..." Harry said slowly, for some reason feeling slightly uncomfortable, he seemed unable to look Sirius in the eyes.

"So?" Sirius turned to him, raising an aristocratic eyebrow. "'So' What, Mr. Potter?"

Harry glanced at him and looked away rapidly, trying to prevent the flush from creeping into his cheeks. He had no idea what was happening to him, he had been alone with Sirius many times before over the summer, so why was sitting at his side on the Hogwarts express so different? He cursed himself inwardly for acting like a prat. "Er..."

Sirius smirked slightly, but took pity on Harry and saved him from having to think of something to fill the silence. "You still reckon that Malfoy brat's a Death Eater?" He said, lounging elegantly in his seat as he turned to look directly at Harry.

Harry nodded. "Yeah...I just feel like...it's right...you know?" He frowned and met Sirius' sharp gaze.

"Trust your instincts Harry, only you can know if you're right or wrong."

"What do you reckon?"

Sirius smiled. "I agree with you. In my time, the Dark Lord wasn't recruiting children, but that doesn't mean he hasn't changed." A sudden frown marred his brow, his eyes darkened like clouds covering the silver moon. "He's a sadistic bastard...the amount of times I heard my Cousins talking about how he'd killed some persons family all because they slipped up or refused to work for him...I don't see why he wouldn't take on Malfoy Junior just to punish Cissy and Lucy."

Harry chuckled wryly at Sirius' pet name for Lucius, but his expression changed rapidly. "You mean you reckon he wants Malfoy to die?"

Sirius shrugged. "Probably."

"But that's...awful..." Harry gazed out the window thoughtfully, until Sirius' sharp bark of laughter brought him back.

"Harry...this is Voldemort we're talking about here." Sirius gave him a small, pitying smile. "He murders anyone who defies him and calls himself merciful...he takes people's lives, their courage, their very souls and twists them until there's nothing left but a mindless soldier. Voldemort is evil incarnate...you should know this better than anyone, he tried to murder you when you were a baby!"

"I know...it's just..." Harry shook his head slowly. "Malfoy's always boasted about how pure his blood is, how much Voldemort trusts his father and all that...I suppose I've just never considered how Lucius' imprisonment would affect him..."

Sirius sneered disdainfully. "Malfoy blood isn't as pure as they'd have you believe Harry." He said. "They have had people marry Muggle-born's...they just hide it well. Trust me, the purest line in existence is mine, and even that's fraught with doubt. Anyone who claims pure blood is probably either lying or deluded. Also, all Malfoy's are liars."

"I forget sometimes that you were brought up with all this..."

Sirius' eyes darkened dangerously. "Glad someone can." He muttered, pushing hair from his eyes and drawing his knee tighter to his chest.

"Sorry...I didn't mean..."

"It's not a problem, Prongslet..." Sirius said with a small sigh. "Honestly, I know you don't mean to make me angry." He smiled, a small sweet smile that made Harry blush furiously and look away.

The train continued on its way through the countryside, Sirius and Harry sat talking softly to each other and laughing, their heads close together when the compartment door opened they both looked up to see a boy stood there gazing at Harry with huge, curious eyes. "Can we help you?" Sirius said, startling the boy so he dropped a small scroll of parchment on the floor. Sirius bent and picked it up, it had a violet ribbon around it. Harry watched him handle it gingerly as if it was going to bite him. "This is for you..." He muttered, dropping it into Harry's palm. "You can go, kid." He said with a casual wave of his hand and the boy swallowed nervously before slamming the compartment door shut and scuttling away.

Harry read the parchment, his nose wrinkling in confusion. "An invitation to eat with Horace Slughorn...who is he?"

"Sluggy's a professor..." Sirius replied. "I'm going to assume he retired or something at some point if you don't know who he is..." He frowned in distaste. "He's a fat old Walrus-man who likes to collect the potentially rich and famous, or in your case, the already rich and famous. He's the Potions Professor in my time, tried to get me to join his Slug-Club but I refused."

Harry smiled. "Slug-Club?"

"Yeah, he has a club of talented students who he can put in contact with powerful people, in my time most of the Ministry are made up of Sluggy's favourites. In fact, now that I think about it, Lily Evans's one too." He pulled a face. "So is my brother..."

"My mum? Really?" Harry's green eyes lit up.

"Yeah, she's more intelligent than even Moony, me or Prongs...Top of our classes, especially Potions and Charms."

"How come you're not in the Club?"

"Because I'm not interested in power..." Sirius looked away, out over the fields that sped past his window. "Power's dangerous...especially for someone like me."

"You'd be a great Auror."

Sirius laughed. "I wouldn't! I hate authority! I'd never do as I was told, I'd always get myself into stupid situations...I'm too reckless!" His laughter died and his face became suddenly serious, he gazed intently at Harry for a long while, until Harry felt uncomfortable. "They also would never give me a position of power within the Ministry...not after they found out what Bellatrix was. I'm a Black...everyone knows to fear a Black." He looked back out the window.

"I'm sorry I..."

"No, don't worry about it." Sirius smiled at him. "You go see what Sluggy wants, I'm sure you'd rather eat Pheasant than Pumpkin pasties..." He grinned and Harry grimaced as he stood.

"I'll see you in a bit then." He muttered and left the compartment, but not before he saw Sirius curl up, shove his hands into his hair and lower his head onto his knees. With a frown of concern he walked away, knowing that Sirius obviously didn't want him to witness that moment of weakness.

Sirius hardly heard the compartment door slam shut behind Harry as agony flashed through his skull, slicing his mind in half and forcing him to bite down hard on his lower lip to prevent a scream from escaping. He groaned softly, pressing his forehead to his knees and squeezing his eyes shut. He didn't want Harry to know about the headaches, he saw no reason to worry him. When he risked opening his eyes the world wavered, like he was looking at it through a heat haze he groaned again and closed his eyes, breathing slowly through the pain as it gradually began to fade. Finally he took a slow, shaky breath and tipped his head back against the seat and gazed up at the ceiling, he felt his hands shake and clenched them into fists until they steadied.

When he had calmed enough to uncurl himself he heard someone clear their throat and turned to see a blond boy with a pointed face stood by the door. "Well, well, if it isn't Mini-foy...what do you want?"

"What's wrong with you?" Malfoy asked, his pale eyes narrowed.

"Nothing that concerns nosy little shits...out with it, what do you want?"

"I just thought that we could, perhaps, come to some kind mutual agreement."

Sirius smiled slyly. "An agreement with a slimy snake? What makes you think I'd do that?"

"Because If not I'll tell the Dark Lord that you managed to come back from the dead with a real body...and much younger."

Sirius arched an eyebrow. "I'm listening." He said carefully, his hand had slid from his thigh and now rested lightly on the handle of his wand in his pocket, he knew he could probably outdraw Malfoy if it came to it, but he wasn't sure if he had inherited his father's talent or not so he dared not risk an outright attack.

Draco licked his lips, glancing nervously over his shoulder before sliding the compartment door shut and yanking down the blind. He moved closer to Sirius who remained sprawled casually in his seat, pitch black hair falling into his bright eyes which watched Draco's every move carefully. Malfoy lifted back the sleeve of his left arm and showed Sirius the Dark Mark branded there. There was silence as Sirius moved his eyes back to his face, Draco couldn't read his expression, he looked neither intimidated nor angry; his face was a pale mask. "Well?" he said nervously.

"Well what? You haven't offered me anything yet...what must I do to prevent you from telling the Dark Lord our little secret, hmm?"

"I want your help."

"In what?" Sirius brushed hair from those eyes and watched Draco squirm uncomfortably.

"I have a...Mission." he began softly. "A mission given to me by the Dark Lord himself."

"I'm sure you're very honoured." Sirius drawled lazily, managing to sound incredibly bored.

Draco frowned angrily. "How dare you..."

"I would hurry if I were you, Malfoy, in case someone comes back and discovers you speaking to me." He smirked.

"This mission I...I'm not supposed to tell anyone...but I can't do it alone..."

"Well then, you'd better hold your tongue before the Dark Lord cuts it off."

Draco flushed slightly but continued. "I need someone to help me k-..." He froze as he heard familiar voices coming down the corridor. He sneered furiously. "The Mudblood." He hissed.

"Ah, afraid of a little Mudblood girl, Malfoy? You're really nothing like your father are you?" Sirius smiled as he watched Draco glare furiously at him.

"Don't speak to me like that you filthy Bloodtraitor!"

"Aw, I'm so terribly hurt by your words! I must now go cry in the bathroom..." Sirius yawned as he spoke, his voice dripping sarcasm.

Draco opened his mouth to retort but the voices drew closer so he hissed air from between his teeth and fled. Sirius' smile fell and he frowned, cursing the untimely arrival of Hermione and Ron as the compartment door slid open again. He could have got more information on what Malfoy was planning, but he supposed it could wait. He hitched a smile onto his face as Hermione began asking him where Harry was.

When Harry returned he slumped back into his seat with a huff, he had a sour look on his face. "Everyone's bloody staring at me!" He muttered irritably.

Sirius chuckled. "Get used to it, mate. You're a hero, after all."

"I'd rather not be." Harry spotted a few girls walking past their compartment, they looked in and turned away giggling and muttering to themselves.

"The girls like it..." Sirius swept hair from his eyes, smiling slyly. "Maybe you'll finally lose your precious flower."

"Sirius!" Hermione had gone slightly pink and she stared with shocked eyes as Sirius giggled.

"Come on, you're all acting like two year olds! You're sixteen now, and should be aware of the birds and the bees."

Hermione shot him a glare before disappearing behind a book and pointedly ignoring Sirius' attempts to wind her up. After a while of soft talking the compartment door slid open again and revealed a small, round faced boy, clutching a toad in one hand and a small blond girl with the look of someone who had wandered in by accident. Harry grinned. "Hi Neville, Luna."

"Hello Harry, nice summer?" Neville sat down beside Hermione and Ron while Luna took a seat beside Harry.

Harry shrugged. "It was ok."

Luna turned, large protuberant eyes on Sirius and watched him for minute before speaking. "Who are you?" She asked dreamily. Neville looked at the new boy as well and his eyes narrowed slightly.

Sirius grinned, holding out his hand. "Sirius Black, nice to meet you." He said before Harry, Ron or Hermione could speak.

"I thought you were dead." Luna replied, shaking his hand before letting go and smiling. "It's good that you aren't."

"Er...thanks...?" Sirius raised an eyebrow and Harry shrugged.

"B-Black?" Neville muttered, staring at Sirius with side eyes. "I saw you fall through that veil thing!"

"I did." Sirius grinned maliciously, eyeing the plump boy with a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"How are you...what...?" Neville looked confused and slightly scared. "Weren't you older?"

"I was."

Harry smiled slightly. "There was an accident and Sirius got transported to our time...Dumbledore wants to keep an eye on him so he's coming to school with us."

"Oh..." Neville nodded, but still looked a bit confused. "Ok...so...you're...a-a good guy then?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow at that. "Good, bad...there's not really such a thing is there? I'm both, if you must put distinctions on such things. Of course, I can be nice when I want to be but I'm also a nasty piece of work when someone thinks it's a good idea to piss me off. It's all relative, we're all human, capable of both good and bad things, we all hold light and dark within ourselves, it's our decisions that make us who we are." He ran fingers through his hair slowly, so it fell back into place in an ebony wave that shone so black it was almost blue. "Of course, if we're looking for distinctions I'd probably say that most students at Hogwarts would consider both myself and James bad, although, that's a very long way from Dark."

Neville glanced nervously at Harry, who shrugged. "He's alright, Neville."

"Oh, ok." He settled back and tried to prevent his toad from escaping.

Harry turned his head and saw a head of white-blond hair pass the window, he frowned slightly before standing up. Ron looked at him questioningly. "What are you up to?" He asked as Harry pulled out his invisibility cloak.

"That's James'!" Sirius exclaimed in wonderment. "He gave it to you?"

"Well...indirectly I suppose." Harry replied throwing it over himself. "I'll catch you guys later."

"Harry...wait..." Hermione felt the displacement of air as Harry walked past her, the door opened on its own and slid closed again.

"Don't bother following him." Sirius muttered with a yawn. "He'll be fine."

"But...what's he doing?" She looked concerned.

"Following that Malfoy git." Sirius shrugged. "He's a big boy." He stood and stretched before grabbing his borrowed trunk and yanking out his robes. "Better change, we're nearly there." He said.

But, as they all crowded onto Hogsmeade station platform they found no sign of Harry. Hermione continued to look worried. "He should be here..." She muttered.

"He will be, calm down." Ron replied. He looked around. "Where's Sirius?"

"Probably gone back for Harry..." Hermione said slowly, glancing behind her as the train idled and spewed steam into the air.

Sirius walked down the train, his wand gripped in one hand as he scanned empty compartments. He frowned slightly as he passed one with the blind drawn down across the window. Pausing he pushed open the door and gazed around, he could smell soap and shampoo. He glanced around, carefully searching the floor before his fingers closed around something soft. He yanked off the Invisibility cloak and gazed down at a Petrified Harry, with a small smirk he released him from the spell and helped him to his feet. "Thanks..." Harry muttered, he had blood staining his clothes, his nose was well and truly broken.

"Looks like blondie did a number on you, huh?" Sirius said as they began walking back up the train and pushed open the door. They climbed off back onto the platform together.

"Git." Harry hissed furiously.

Sirius giggled. "Here..." He lifted his wand. "Moony's always been the healer in our team, but I learnt a thing or two...Episkey."

Harry's nose felt very hot, and then very cold. He raised a hand and felt gingerly. It seemed to be mended. "Brilliant, thanks." He muttered miserably as he walked up towards the gates.

"So, learn anything?" Sirius said softly, he had a slight skip in his step.

"Not anything useful..." Harry sighed heavily. "If only I had definite proof that he's a Death Eater..."

When Sirius let out a bark of laughter Harry turned to him with an eyebrow raised. "What is it?"

"He confessed to me." Sirius replied, his voice full of amusement.

"He-what?

"Yeah, he showed me the Dark Mark and asked me to help him with some stupid task the Dark Lord's got him doing...I mean, really, as if I'd do that! But, he didn't have time to tell me anything important about this task, so I can only hope he'll try again..."

"He tried to get you to help?" Harry frowned. "Why?"

Sirius shrugged. "Must have heard how amazingly talented I am from dear Cissy..." he snorted derisively. "He's probably desperate and has somehow deluded himself in thinking I'd help him because of stupid blood-ties..."

They continued onwards, Harry fell into a thoughtful silence as they walked. "You...don't think he'd actually tell Voldemort...about you, I mean?"

Sirius heard the tone of concern and shrugged. "And what if he does? What can he do about it? I'm going back to Hogwarts where old Dumbles can keep a close eye on me and then I'll be sent back to my own time at some point...so really, even if he did want me, there's no way he'd risk it."

"I...I suppose so." Harry said doubtfully.

The gates loomed towards them and as they drew nearer they realised they were padlocked. Harry raised his wand but felt Sirius push his arm down to his side. "It won't work." He said firmly, gazing up at the gates with a small frown.

"How do you know?"

Sirius cocked his head towards him. "You can't feel it?" When Harry continued to look confused he sighed and lifted his hand, he took Harry's and pressed his palm to the gate. "It's magical residue...you should be able to feel it..." He muttered softly.

"I can't..." Harry paused, Sirius was stood very close to him, his palm hot against the back of his own hand and he felt his fingers tighten and heated breath on his ear.

"Close your eyes." He whispered, enjoying the tiny shudder he got from Harry who did as he was told. "It's like a tingle, a shiver that runs across your skin...feel it?" He ran the fingers of his free hand gently down the back of Harry's neck, chuckling softly when Harry bit down on his lip.

"Y-Yeah..." Harry replied, feeling a blush on his cheeks and was glad for the shadows cloaking it. He felt a kind of distant tingle, racing across his skin, but he wasn't sure if that was the enchantments or the fact that Sirius' lips were very, very close to his neck. He opened his eyes and caught sight of a distant light bobbing towards them. "Someone's coming." He muttered and pulled himself away from Sirius who blew hair from his eyes, Harry avoided his gaze and frowned determinedly at the approaching figure.

"Well, well, well..." That cold voice made Harry feel fury lick his insides, he looked up at the dark figure stood on the opposite side of the gates. He leaned forward, greasy hair sliding over his face as the light hit his beetle black eyes. "Nice of you to turn up, Potter, although you have evidently decided that the wearing of school robes would detract from your appearance..." He paused, his eyes narrowing as they landed upon the other boy stood beside Harry.

"Snivelly!" Sirius muttered in a shocked voice, he took a step backwards in surprise, but his fingers tightened over his wand. "What the...?"

"Dumbledore mentioned that you had somehow returned, Black." Snape hissed softly. "But it seems to me that this could be a rather...ah...interesting opportunity..." He smirked and Sirius sneered.

"Oh yeah? Just because you're all old, doesn't mean you've got any power over me, Snivellus. So keep your greasy beak out of my face!"

"I am here to see you both up to the castle, Potter." He lifted his wand, Sirius responding without conscious thought, so his own wand was pointed directly into Snape's face. "I wouldn't dare, if I were you, Black." Snape replied softly, tapping his wand against the gates so the chains slipped loose and they opened.

"Oh wouldn't I?" Sirius replied, stepping through and raising an eyebrow as he looked up at the teacher. "You may be older than me now, but that doesn't mean I'm going to follow orders from the likes of you."

"You will do as you are told, boy." Snape replied coolly as he turned and began striding up towards the castle. "Yes, I think this year will be most interesting."

Sirius and Harry both glared at Snape's back as they followed him up towards the brightly lit school.