Chapter Three

Sirius led the Marauding crew down the last staircase, he and James talking to Peter about finding a girlfriend. The poor kid was sixteen years old, and had never had one.

"Honestly, Peter, if you'd just be more open about things, it would be easier to find one!" James was telling him. Peter was listening avidly.

"But what do you mean? 'Be more open.' It sounds like you're saying I should tell girls what I think of them!"

Sirius sighed and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he spotted a familiar cloaked figure with black hair and a tear stained face walking briskly towards what he knew to be the kitchens. Sirius stopped in his tracks to stare after her, causing Remus to walk into him from behind.

"Padfoot!" he exclaimed irritably. "What was that for?"

"What? Oh, sorry, Moony," he said, turning around and helping his friend to his feet.

Remus rolled his eyes and looked at James, who shared his look of slight confusion. James shook his head and Remus sighed. This was most unlike their friend. He was usually the alert one, the jokester. But for the past few days, he seemed entranced.

James decided, right then and there, to confront his friend about it that evening while they were out.

He broke the silence and Sirius's stare by clearing his throat. "Hey… uh…." James wasn't really sure what to say. Sirius blinked.

"You say something, Prongs?"

James sighed and shook his head. "Nothing important. Coming?" He added, taking a head start towards the Great Hall. Sirius, Remus, and Peter followed behind him, Sirius still trying to steal a glance at the girl.

The pear giggled and turned into a doorknob as Rae reached out a black fingernail and gently nudged it. She pulled the newly formed door open and stepped inside the secret kitchens of Hogwarts. A rather small house-elf promptly scurried up to her.

'Hello, Miss Rae' was squeaked from several different voices in turn. The small elf then spoke up, "Does you want some hot chocolate, Miss Rae?"

Rae grinned at him and nodded. "Please."

Her tears had stopped now - she really couldn't help but smile at them, especially Khaki, the one fetching her hot chocolate. Their spirits never seemed to falter. After all, they knew almost nothing about the goings on of the world outside Hogwarts.

A minute later, a large mug of steaming hot chocolate slowly bobbed in her direction. It began to tip slightly to the side, so Rae reached out a hand and lifted it off the small Khaki.

"Thank you, Miss Rae!" he squeaked, relieved of the heavy weight.

Rae smiled down at him. "Don't mention it. Do you have any crisps?"

Khaki beamed, obviously thrilled to be of help. He nodded and hurried off again. Rae removed the lid from her mug and took a quick sip. It was still unbearably hot. But that only meant it would last longer.

Khaki's head bobbed back up to her carrying two large bags of muggle potato crisps, ketchup flavored. Back in her second year, she had convinced the house-elves to keep a few bags of ketchup crisps in the back pantry for her, especially.

"Thanks, Khaki! I'll see you later. Maybe tonight sometime." And with that, she turned to walk out.

She heard Khaki's squeaky voice call out from behind her. "Good bye, Miss Rae!"

Rae smiled to herself and put the bags under her cloak, shifting the mug to her left hand. Her shoes were silent on the cobbled floor, but made a soft padding when she reached the end of the kitchens corridor and entered the area outside the Great Hall. She descended through the door across the hallway that lead back to the dungeons, and made her way to the Slytherin common room.

The moon was full that night, and the stars twinkled mischievously across a sea of black velvet. The snow had stopped for a while, and the night was clear. A distant howling echoed through the trees from the village Hogsmeade.

Peter was sitting by the fire in the common room, reading over the potions notes Remus had lent him. This would be his night alone. While Remus was out for his lycanthropy, his job was to clear up any suspicions as to where James and Sirius had gone.

Up in the sixth year boys' dormitory, James was cleaning a patch of mud from his invisibility cloak and Sirius was looking carefully over the Marauder's map. It was just like any other night, in reality. But something weighed on both of their minds.

"Padfoot, what was the incantation again?" James said quietly.

"I thought Remus told you?" he replied, not taking his eyes from the map.

"He did, but I can't remember it," He said, scratching his head. "And if a patch of mud is just floating around the school at night, it's not exactly going to look innocent."

"Ah, don't worry about it, Prongs," Sirius said, pushing the subject away with a casual wave of his hand. "Nobody's going to see us."

At half past one, the duo trooped down the staircase and towards the portrait hole. They stopped just short of exiting and waited on Peter.

A loud cracking sound erupted from the other side of the room, and a pile of parchment burst into flame. His goal had been to turn every head left in the common room towards him in somewhat of a diversion.

While Sirius just stood there shaking with suppressed laughter at the frantic look on Peter's face, James took advantage of the scene and pulled Sirius by the arm, leading him out the portrait hole.

When out in the corridor of Gryffindor Tower, Sirius (almost fully recovered) pulled the Map out and checked the surrounding areas. James adjusted the cloak to better cover their feet. It seemed that both of them had grown a few inches since the last time they had used the cloak.

"All clear down to the right, and below the first staircase," Sirius whispered. James nodded his approval and started walking.

It was routine to only give approval for the first five minutes of walking. A few years back, they had had a few mishaps with calling an 'all clear all the way.' Since then, they checked for 'all clear' as they went. Although, they doubted they'd have any troubles tonight, what with Filch off to bed early.

James wondered when would be a safe time to talk. He glanced down at the Map. Not a soul in sight. Maybe later….

Sirius's mind was left to wonder in the silence. And wonder, it did - straight back to the girl that he had pulled up in the hallway out of pure Gryffindor kindness. The same girl he had seen with a tear streaked face at breakfast that morning. Why did she interest him so? He had yet to get an actual good look at her, minus the three seconds in potions the other day when he had seen her eyes. Those eyes were so mystical. Stormy and gray, they were. There was something about them that was almost fearful.

Lost in thought, and not really paying attention to where he was headed, he tripped over one of his shoelaces and fell hard to the stone floor, dragging James down with him.

"Black!" he muttered furiously, frantically trying to cover himself and his friend with the cloak.

"What? I'm sorry!" he whispered, slightly frantic himself, seeing as the map had floated off some six feet to the left. He grabbed James's arm and dragged him and the cloak over within grabbing distance of the parchment. He stretched his arm out from under the safety zone and snatched it up.

"Sirius, what were you thinking? Are you trying to get us caught?" James hissed in his ear.

Sirius laid a hand on his friend's shoulder and gently pushed him back down away from his ear.

"It was an accident," he said slowly, trying to keep his voice down. "I tripped on my shoelace, no big deal. And look at the map-" he showed it to James "-there's nobody around…."

He trailed off and a look of shock came over his face. There was another dot traveling along their corridor. It had stopped moving some ten feet behind them. James turned around as quietly as he could. Sirius did the same.

There was nobody there. Sirius squinted his eyes as best he could. Through the almost pitch-black corridor, he saw a figure move. It crossed a patch of moonlight strung across the wall, and he stopped squinting.

There was definitely somebody there. It certainly wasn't Filch, as it was several inches shorter, and the size ruled out Mrs. Norris as well. Making certain who it was exactly was made rather difficult by the fact that a Disillusionment Charm covered them.

Sirius held his breath and looked back at the Map. The caption by the strange dot read 'Rae Orion.'

---

Thank you, to my lone reviewer! This one's for you!