Ah

Ah! Once more unto the breach, dear friends. Part 6 is here (at last). Thank you kindly for the reviews (you're all *so* kind). I kinda know where this story's going now. I've also thought a bit about year 2… I think I'll call it 'the werewolf' (why do you think that is?) that's a work in progress at the moment. Anyway, less babbling, more story…

'Listen to this,' said Sirius breathlessly. He was holding Complex Potions.

Two of the most difficult potions to fabricate are those that contain the dust of a blue unicorn. This mythical beast is extremely rare, and there are known to currently be two of them left in the world. The blue unicorn is extremely powerful, much more so than its cousins. The dust of a blue unicorn is contained in its horn, and is practically impossible to extract, as the unicorn is such a fast and magical creature. The only known sample of the dust is in the possession of Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Supposedly there was once a blue unicorn within the Forbidden Forest, which is now extinct. The two potions that are procured from blue unicorn dust are the Retrovivation Potion, and the Mortefermata Potion. Each potion requires one sample of the dust to work. The former is a life-reversal potion – the living will die and the dead will live. The latter is a life-preserving potion – it can block the killing curse, though the effects last only for a year. These potions are possibly the two most difficult potions to formulate, and only an expert, with the correct ingredients, could have any hope of producing it. As such, the full lists of ingredients for the two potions are unidentified. These are some of those ingredients known to be essential…

After this paragraph there followed the most complicated list of ingredients James had ever seen. Blue unicorn dust was at the top. As soon as Sirius had stopped speaking, Peter let out a low whistle.

'So,' said Remus. 'Thornheart must be after one of these potions, and he needs Jackson to make it for him.'

'Think about it, right,' said Sirius pensively. 'Thornheart's killed this woman, and Jackson's shocked about it. Suppose that this woman's husband or whatever wants revenge on Thornheart. That would explain everything – Thornheart must want the Mortefermata Potion, to protect himself from the husband. He needs to get the dust from Dumbledore, and he needs Jackson to make it for him.'

'Or,' said James, 'he may want the Retrovivation potion, to kill whoever this stalker may be.'

'Either way,' said Peter, 'he's under threat.'

'Look,' said Sirius. 'It says here that the Mortefermata potion lasts for only a year. Thornheart said to Jackson "the potion only lasts for a year". That must be the one he wants.'

'That's possible,' said James. 'But it's not definite. The whole thing's shrouded in mystery.'

'And we need to get to the bottom of it,' said Sirius resolutely.

As the year entered March, the weather began to clear, and the skies began to brighten. Unfortunately the four boys had to agree that they couldn't work anything more out about the potions without further particulars. Even with their good fortune in stumbling across the blue unicorn – Sirius sent a letter of profound thanks to his aunt – they still hadn't really gotten any closer to unveiling the mystery. Thornheart was still acting maliciously, and Jackson was still constantly in good spirits. There did seem to be some danger overshadowing Thornheart. Every time they saw him, he looked thinner and paler. Dumbledore covered some of his lessons towards the end of term when he was particularly ill. He knew a surprising amount about Defence Against the Dark Arts. In one lesson, he told the class the thrilling tale of how he had overcome the Dark wizard Grindelwald. James was also immensely surprised when Dumbledore referred to You-Know-Who as "Voldemort". Indeed, only James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, who all said the name indifferently, didn't gasp when he said it. Because of this, he eyed them all shrewdly. Just as the lesson ended, he asked James a question.

'James,' he said, 'could you summarise the lesson for me?'

'Er – you started by telling us all about how you defeated Grindelwald. And then you talked to us about Voldemort.' The rest of the class gasped – bar Sirius, Remus and Peter – Dumbledore, however, merely smiled at James from behind his half-moon spectacles.

'An excellent summary. Five points to Gryffindor. You may leave.'

'Strange,' said Remus, as they were leaving. 'He doesn't normally give points away for simple things like summaries.'

'Don't be daft,' said Sirius. 'It was because James said "Voldemort" instead of "You-Know-Who" or "He Who Must Not Be Named".

'Yeah,' said Peter, agreeing. 'I don't reckon Dumbledore's afraid of him, either.'

'Wouldn't be surprised,' said Remus. 'After hearing about what he done to Grindelwald.'

Out of the Gryffindor first years only James, Lily and Sirius were staying behind during the Easter holidays. Not only were they constantly on the alert for any mention of the Retrovivation or the Mortefermata potions, but they were also beginning to worry about the exams. 'Worry', however, is probably the wrong word to use. James and Sirius, who were both still by far the cleverest students in the year, didn't worry to any extent about the exams. All the material that they learnt came to them easily; they were certainly not apprehensive about the upcoming exams. Lily, also, was fairly relaxed. She was one of the cleverest witches in the year, along with Katie, and, between them, despite both being muggle-borns, was quite a team, and was very popular amongst the teachers. It was a shame that the same couldn't be said for James and Sirius. Try as they might, they couldn't stop themselves from causing trouble. By now, both of them had around forty detentions each, which was fairly impressive, in their own opinions. Most people had to admit that they made a great duo; they spent most of their time either playing tricks on people or making people laugh. Even Thornheart couldn't resist smiling from time to time.

The third day of the holidays found the three of them sitting together in the common room playing exploding snap. On the desk near them lay their forgotten revision; they were great believers in having study breaks very often. After their sixth game, in which James' hair had been singed (not that he cared), Sirius suggested that they could go and see Hagrid – they hadn't been to see him for a while.

It was a glorious day, the sun shone down on the lake and the castle. The lake looked particularly beautiful; the suns rays reflected off it, and it shimmered gold. Those who were not revising for their exams were outside enjoying the good weather. James, Sirius and Lily spotted a pair of third years feeding Bertie Bott's Every-Flavour Beans to a satisfied-looking tawny owl, who was munching on them apathetically. When they reached Hagrid's, they observed a rather dangerous-looking crossbow hanging on a hook outside the front door. When they entered the hut, they found Hagrid poring over a large book. They approached him, inquisitive as to what he was reading.

'Hi, Hagrid,' said Sirius loudly. 'What're you doing?' Hagrid almost fell off his stool. He quickly hid the book behind his back.

'Blimey, Sirius,' he said, straightening up, 'Don' do tha'. Yeh'll give us heart failure.'

'Sorry,' said Sirius, grinning guiltily. 'What's that book?'

'Er, nowt,' said Hagrid uncomfortably. 'Nowt important.'

'C'mon Hagrid,' said Sirius, in a high voice, 'please let us look.'

'No,' said Hagrid doggedly, 'I can't.' James, meanwhile, whilst this argument was occurring, was sneaking down to try and look at the book. He just glimpsed one word, but it was enough to make him gasp loudly.

'What?' said Hagrid, as James straightened up.

'Oh, nothing, just taking deep breaths,' said James, hoping that his unconvincing lie would work.

'Oh. Sure you don' wan' nothing to eat?' said Hagrid.

'Er, we'll think about it,' said Lily hurriedly, and then, swiftly changing the subject, said 'So, Hagrid, d'you think Gryffindor have a good chance for the Quidditch Cup?'

If there was one good thing about Lily, it was that she was a tomboy. She wasn't interested in 'girly games', as Sirius put it; she was more into watching Quidditch, and teasing Snape. She did prove the old saying, however, for she had a fiery temper, and on more than one occasion she had had reason to take out her temper onto either her friends or the Slytherins. Nevertheless, when she was happy, she was perfectly nice, and everybody enjoyed her company.

They whiled away the afternoon talking to Hagrid; he was a very good listener, and a good person to talk to. They played a few games of exploding snap, but Hagrid gave up after his beard almost caught fire. James didn't have an opportunity to talk to Sirius alone, as Hagrid's hut was so small, but there was certainly a reason for why he had gasped. It was dark by the time they left Hagrid's. The sky was still clear, and the moon was out in full, bathing the grounds in moonlight. James still couldn't talk to Sirius, as Lily was still with them, talking to them both indifferently. They took a slight detour – as they so often did – on their way back to the common room, to visit the house-elves. Lily ad never been inside the kitchens before, and she was impressed that they had found it. When they returned to the common room, James said that he was going to bed because he was tired, and motioned pointedly to Sirius to follow him. Sirius, was, however, now telling Lily a joke, and didn't see him. James sighed, and made his way up alone with the intention of telling Remus and Peter. When he entered the dorm, however, he found Peter alone, reading on his bed. He had a good idea where Remus was. Peter seemed to notice this.

'Yeah,' he said, as James shut the door. 'He's off seeing his mum again.'

'Poor guy,' said James sincerely. 'Must be terrible for him.' Peter nodded. 'Anyway,' said James, carrying on, 'I've found another clue.'

'What?' said Peter, looking up.

'You know we went to Hagrid's? Well, when we arrived, he was reading this old book – he tried to hide it, but Sirius saw it. Then, Sirius tried to make Hagrid show it to him, and I ducked down and managed to glimpse the front cover.

'What did it say?'

'All I saw was Complex P-, but I'll bet you anything that it was Complex Potions, like Sirius has got.

'You mean that Hagrid's looking up the blue unicorn as well?'

'Well, supposedly. I mean, it could be a coincidence, but why else would Hagrid want a book like that?'

'I reckon you're right,' said Peter, the light of adventure kindling in his eyes. 'But now we need to find out why Hagrid's looking for it.' Just as James nodded, Sirius came bouncing into the room.

'Hi,' he said. 'What's up?'

'James has found another clue.'

'Oh, Goody,' said Sirius, grinning. 'Quesque ça?'

'I believe the expression is "Qu'est-ce-que c'est",' said James, laughing. 'Anyway,' he said, dropping his voice. 'You know that book Hagrid was reading earlier?' Sirius nodded. 'Yeah, well, when I bent down and gasped, it wasn't because I was taking deep breaths.'

'I think we all realised that.'

'Yes. It was because I saw the title of the book – Complex Potions.'

'So we need to find out why Hagrid's looking for the blue unicorn, yes?' said Sirius, evidently filling in some missing links and coming to a conclusion at lightning speed.

'Quite,' said James, not observing the astonished look on Peter's face.

'This situation keeps getting more and more complicated,' said Peter fervently.

'You may be right,' said James, nodding. 'We'll see.'

The only feasible explanation to this new predicament was that Jackson was having some difficulty accumulating all of his potion ingredients. Though they had read through the incomplete list of ingredients in Sirius' book, most of them were far too complicated for them to comprehend, and they couldn't fail to be impressed with Thornheart's inclination to find the ingredients. The two potions in the book were described as "sister potions", as their ingredients were so singular and similar – notable the unicorn dust.

When Remus returned from visiting his mother a few days later, they filled him in on what had happened. He, like them, was not immensely surprised, because the ingredients for the potions were indeed very difficult to procure. Everybody returned to school the day before term restarted, though many people complained about the overload of homework; the fifth and seventh years especially, as it was nearing the time of their OWLs (Ordinary Wizarding Levels) and NEWTs (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) respectively.

Whilst this investigation was proceeding, the year had entered May and the weather was most definitely improving. There was event approaching that wiped clear James' mind of Thornheart or his potions – the Quidditch final. On the weekend preceding the match, Madam Hooch had written up the how the Championship stood:

House

Wins

Losses

Draws

Points

Slytherin

2

0

0

+ 320

Gryffindor

1

1

0

+ 50

Ravenclaw

1

1

0

+ 30

Hufflepuff

0

2

0

– 400

The first match, Slytherin versus Hufflepuff, was scheduled for the second weekend in May, and Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw set for the third. Luckily for Ravenclaw, Jake Smith had recovered from his leg injury, and would be fit to play in the match. Snape was becoming more unpleasant these days, boasting on about how Slytherin were sure to win the Quidditch cup and the House Championship. It made James and Sirius feel remarkably sick; though in truth, he was probably right.

On the day before the match, Sirius and James were walking – as they so often did – down to the kitchens. On the way, they passed Thornheart's office, and suddenly heard a low, excited whisper.

'Do not worry,' came Thornheart's low voice. 'It should not be long now; they cannot stop us now, we can do it!' He was speaking very quickly and very nervously. James and Sirius passed the office and headed towards the kitchen, James mind reeling once again with new information.

'What's he on now?' said Sirius broodingly.

'I reckon he's got a confederate, an associate, who's helping him – apart from Jackson. We heard him talking to him or her before, remember?'

'Yeah, that makes sense.'

So now they had yet another mystery. Who, or what, was helping Thornheart? James was beginning to get the impression that his plans were not entirely honourable; that Sirius may have been wrong in predicting that somebody was hunting him. Later, in the common room, Sirius and James explained to Remus and Peter what had happened, and Remus thought along the same sort of lines as James.

'Who d'you reckon his companion is?' said Remus. 'I hope it doesn't have anything to do with Voldemort.' This thought had already entered James' mind, and it was a possibility, though they had no proof – yet. The only thing that they were all sure of was that they had to get to the bottom of this mystery before it got out of hand – and it was quite possible that it might.

James, Sirius, Remus and Peter didn't feel like going to the Slytherin-Hufflepuff Quidditch game, because they didn't want to see Slytherin being awarded the Quidditch Cup. They instead spent their time in the common room, which was, considering that there was a Quidditch match on, quite full. Evidently some other Gryffindors didn't want to witness Slytherin's triumph either. James and Sirius were playing chess and doing their Transfiguration homework at the same time. James kept getting distracted and changing his pawns into pebbles and back again. This didn't please the pawns, and they kept trying to attack him, though they couldn't move from the board. Remus and Peter were playing exploding snap with Lily and Katie, who had also opted to stay in the castle, and so James and Sirius encountered frequent explosions and bursts of laghter from behind them, and the noises from the crowd out in the grounds.

After a few hours, they heard a large amount of shouting and cheering that could mean only that the Quidditch match had finished. After a few minutes, James spotted people coming out of the stadium and heading back up to the school, laughing and joking. Everybody seemed very jovial. This was soon explained. Slytherin, it transpired, had played very complacently, and in their lack of enthusiasm, Hufflepuff had managed to get the Snitch quite early and win by two hundred and twenty points to thirty. This meant that now both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor had a chance to steal the Quidditch Cup from Slytherin's clutches – it all depended on who won, and by how much – Gryffindor would need to win by ninety points, Ravenclaw would have to win by one hundred and ten points, and now that they had their star player back, this seemed like a probable prospect.

That night, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all still up late in the common room discussing the case of Thornheart. Frank was playing chess with Sarah and Lily. There were a few glowing embers dying away in the fire. The four boys came to the conclusion that either Thornheart was working for somebody, or that he was in imminent danger. They were still discussing it when they all went up to bed, and whilst they were in bed. James could tell that Sirius was getting tired of the subject, and that one more mention of a potion or Thornheart would cause him to kill someone.

'You two,' said James pleadingly to Remus and Peter, still chatting unconcernedly. 'Let's try and get some sleep.'

'But -' said Peter, but then noticing the look on Sirius' face, he said 'Alright, sleep well everyone.

'Night.' came three replies, and they were soon all fast asleep, or at least, that was what James thought. If he had been a bit more observant, he would have noticed the absence of the usual deep breathing coming from Remus' bed.

I have to stop now, so that I can plan part 7. my holidays start in four days time, so I should be able to sort it out during that time. As you well know, all characters, places, names are all to do with that rowling woman, so give her lots of thanks and cash (ah, you already have). Do you think you could find it in your heart to fill in the box below? No? Damn you, then! Only kidding, I love you all *really* (well, your reviews, at least) until next time, ciao (I like that word).