That evening, Sirius was hailed as some kind of hero in the Gryffindor common room.

'That old hag deserved everything she heard from you!' Adam looked positively delighted, 'she's been the bane of my existence for five years now!'

'Nice one, Sirius!' Eva's sister Julia cried, giving him a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and smiling.

'Nobody else would've had the guts to do that!' Added a boy, whom Sirius did not know.

By the end of the evening, Every person in the common room had done a few hundred lines for Sirius. Remus, James and Peter accompanied him to start cleaning the toilets. He felt enormously grateful that he had such good friends, and even felt able to ignore the taunts and jeers of any Slytherins who happened to be passing.

Two weeks passed without incident. Sirius managed to avoid getting into any more trouble with Professor Grappenhall, although many times she tried to goad him into a temper. He was beginning to feel more relaxed, and enjoyed school more.

James had quidditch practice three evenings a week-the first match, Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, would take place in the middle of October, and Paul MacNally was frantic to win. One evening, after a long and muddy quidditch practice, James collapsed into a chair next to Sirius and groaned loudly.

'MacNally's a slave driver' he announced to no one in particular, 'I don't NEED to practice, I can play fine as things are.'

'Mmmm.' Sirius, busy studying his Transfiguration book, wasn't really listening. Peter, however (who had recently taken to hanging around with the trio) looked up and said 'you ARE brilliant. I don't think you need to train either.'

'Don't go making his head any bigger than it is', Remus grunted, glancing up at James and grinning.

James shifted restlessly in his chair. 'I want to DO something', he declared, 'not just study and play quidditch. There has to be more to this school than that.'

'I can play gobstones with you, if you want', Peter offered obligingly. James dismissed the offer with a wave of his hand.

'I want to do something exciting, something memorable', he explained. His eyes brightened, and he sat up straight. 'Why don't we explore?'

Sirius heard this, and snapped his book shut instantly. Remus did the same. 'I've heard a load of stories about secret passageways and tunnels in this place', Sirius remarked, 'it could be fun.'

'We'd be caught, though', Peter looked doubtful, 'Filch and that spooky cat of his would get us suspended.'

James leaned forwards and whispered 'not if they can't see us.' Without another word, he jumped up, and beckoned for the others to follow. He ran up to the dormitory, checked that Jed and Tobias were fast asleep, and pulled a package out from under his bed.

'It came this morning', he informed them, in hushed tones, 'I got them to deliver it very early, before the morning post, 'cos I didn't want everyone seeing it downstairs.' Gently, he pulled the brown paper off the soft package. Sirius, Peter and Remus all gasped.

'An invisibilty cloak?' Sirius felt excited, 'I can't believe it! These things cost a fortune!'

'I've been doing odd-jobs at home, and even got a Muggle job, delivering their newspapers, to pay for it', James whispered proudly, 'it's brilliant. It's big, so it'll probably just about cover all four of us.'

'Great! Let's go!' Peter was trembling with excitement.

James shook his head ruefully. 'Not tonight, Peter', he said, 'we want to plan it properly. Organise things. How about next week-end?'

'Okay', Sirius was enthusiastic.

'Sure!' Peter looked delighted.

Remus remained silent.

'What about you, Ray, are you in?' James asked impatiently.

'Course I am', Remus said quickly, 'it's just...I might not be around next week-end.'

'Why not?' Sirius asked curiously.

'It's my Mum', Remus mumbled, 'she's sick. I want to go visit her.'

'Oh', James said, 'sorry, Ray. All right then, but you'll come the next time, won't you?'

'Definitely', Remus looked eager.

'Excellent', James beamed around at his friends, 'Saturday night it is then.'