As the school year went on, talk about the infamous Sirius Black seemed to increase, especially after it was learned that he may have broken into Gryffindor Tower. Neville was still a bit rattled from the experience, and he was also embarrassed because he had passwords written down on paper because the passwords had been changing all the time, and Black had managed to get ahold of the paper somehow.

"Don't feel too bad about it, Neville."

Jillian was with Neville in the library, helping him with some Herbology work. "It was an honest mistake. There's a lot of passwords to remember, the Ravenclaw ones change all the time."

"I should have done a better job of memorizing the passwords," Neville muttered. "Harry would have been able to memorize them in no time at all."

Jillian sighed softly. "Neville, you can't always be comparing yourself to other people. You aren't ever going to be like Harry because you aren't Harry, you're Neville. Besides, I don't want you to be like Harry, I like you just the way that you are."

"But maybe people wouldn't tease me so much-"

"Neville, I'm going to fill you in on a little secret. People that bully others, they bully because they're trying to hide their own insecurities. Take Draco for example. The only reason that he gets away with half the stuff that he does is because he has money. Money is the only reason why he's popular. Even Blaise, who's in the same house as Draco, doesn't really like him all that much."

Ever since Draco had tried to get Blaise away from Luna, Blaise had steered clear of Draco, making sure that Draco knew that Blaise was no longer interested in being friends with him, if they were ever actually friends, to begin with. There were a few Slytherins that had followed in Blaise's footsteps as well, which Jillian had been delighted to hear.

"Jillian, you're always so calm and collected, like nothing ever bothers you."

"Oh Longbottom, if you only knew the truth."

Speak of the devil, Draco came striding up to them. Crabbe and Goyle, loyal as always, trailed behind him.

"You think that Mantle is so big and bad, but she's weak. Didn't you hear about how she went into the Forbidden Forest to try and kill herself?"

Jillian bit her lip, looking away from Neville. But Neville, much to everyone's surprise, came to Jillian's defense. "She had a moment of weakness, that's all. She's strong, stronger than she thinks that she is. You're just an insecure bully Malfoy, and one day, someone is going to stand against you and knock you onto your arse."

In a flash, Malfoy had whipped his wand out. "I would be careful with my next words if I were you, Longbottom."

"Trying to intimidate people, Malfoy?" Fred and George Weasley came into view. "Out of everyone, you should be the one who needs to be careful. Granger is in the library, and I'm sure that she wouldn't be afraid to break your nose again."

"This isn't over," Draco stated before shoving his wand back into his pocket and storming off.

"You alright, Jill?" George asked, and Jillian nodded her head. "Yeah, thanks. I thought that it was going to get ugly for a second. You good, Neville?"

Neville's hands were clenched into fists. "What makes him think that he can talk to you like that?"

"He's a Malfoy, he's a pompous arse." Jillian shrugged her shoulders. "I'm used to it by now, it really doesn't phase me anymore. Come on, let's get this work done."

"Neville actually stood up to Malfoy?"

Jillian was hanging out with Ron and Harry the next day. Hermione had some things that she needed to get done in the library, but as soon as she was done, she promised that she would join them.

"I know, I was a little bit shocked myself to tell you the truth."

Jillian had told the boys about Neville's act of bravery. None of them had thought that the Longbottom boy had it in him, but this just showed that maybe he belonged in Gryffindor after all.

"What do you guys think about all this stuff with Sirius Black?" Jillian had her hands shoved into her pockets, the castle was extremely drafty, meaning that if you weren't next to a roaring fireplace, then you were almost always cold, and she was making good use of the warming charms that Flitwick had taught them.

"I hope that they catch him," Harry said, his tone cold and indignant. "He did sell my parents out to Voldemort after all."

Jillian ignored the look of apprehension that was on Ron's face at the mention of Voldemort's name. "I've heard some of the older Ravenclaws talking, and there's a fair few of them that seem to think that he didn't do it, that he was framed."

Ron scoffed at that idea. "The man is bloody bonkers, he blew up a whole street of people. He managed to get into Gryffindor Tower, probably would have killed Harry if he had gotten half a chance."

"Yeah...maybe…" Jillian muttered, causing Harry to look at her. "Jillian, don't tell me that you think he's innocent."

"I don't know Harry. After all of the talk that I've been hearing, I've been doing some research on the Black family. Did you know that Sirius was the only Black to be sorted into Gryffindor? Everyone else was a Slytherin."

"So?"

"He hated the values that his family had. I've asked McGonagall about him, she was more surprised than anyone to find out that he had ratted out your parents, Harry. I mean, he was best friends with your dad!"

"Maybe it was only a ruse."

"Harry, they had been friends ever since they were eleven years old, I don't think that they would be training people to be Death Eaters at eleven. I mean, everyone knew that he supported Muggle-Borns, he fought against Death Eaters in the beginning of the wizarding war. I just...what he supposedly did, it just doesn't add up."

"Jillian, you can't believe everything that you hear." Harry shook his head. "Maybe he was my dad's friend at first, but obviously something changed. He helped to kill my parents, plain and simple." He walked away with Ron, the two of them leaving Jillian behind.

Jillian bit her lip, looking down at the floor. Was Harry right? Was Sirius Black actually guilty?

"Miss Mantle." Professor Lupin walked up to her. "Are you alright? You're looking a little bit down. Why don't we go into my office and have a cup of tea?"

Professor Lupin made Jillian a cup of chamomile tea and sat down with her. "Were you and Harry arguing about something?"

"I suppose that you could say that. I was trying to talk to him about Sirius Black, I'm starting to think that maybe he's actually innocent."

"Oh?" Lupin raised an eyebrow, obviously curious. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, Sirius Black was one of James' Potter's best friends, right?"

"Ever since first year."

"Right, so if they were such close friends, then what would make him turn on James like that?"

"That, my dear, is a question that everyone would like to know the answer to." Professor Lupin set his cup down. "You see, I was also a part of their friend group."

"You were?"

"Yes, it was myself, James, Sirius, and Peter Pettigrew. We were friends all through school, and we were planning on still remaining friends after school and we all went our separate ways. But then the war started, and things were forced to change."

"Do you think that Sirius ratted them out to Voldemort?"

"Miss Mantle, I'm going, to be honest with you. I don't quite know what to think. Do I want to believe that a close friend of mine killed another close friend? Of course not, but what else could have happened? Who else would have killed James and Lily? No one knew where they were except for Sirius. He was their Secret Keeper, they went into hiding in order to protect Harry, and Sirius was the only one that knew where they were."

Jillian was silent, pondering this new information. There was something, something that wasn't right, that didn't add up, and she was going to find out what that something was.