James, Jerry, and Alice sat in a tight circle on the floor of the Gryffindor common room. The rest of the students were long gone. It was too late at night for most. But the three young first years were wide awake.

In front of them were three books: A Recent History of Pureblood Lines, Blood: The Practitioner's Manual, and a copy of House of Black: A History.

"Start looking through them to see if we can find anything to prove Rebecca's lying about who she is," James said. "If we get enough information, someone will believe us. Even if we have to convince McGonagall herself."

He picked up A Recent History of Pureblood Lines and began to thumb through it looking for the name Sims or Black. It didn't take long for him to find mention of the latter. Apparently the line was almost totally extinct.

There were a small number of family members who were unaccounted for, but they were presumed dead and unlikely to have carried on the line. All that was definitely left of the Black lineage were a few remaining distant relatives. James felt an excited jolt in his stomach reading over the final passage.

While the name 'Black' has died out, there are a few notable descendents still living with close and direct ties to the Black family. Draco Malfoy, son of Narcissa Malfoy (neé Black), is a famed healer at Saint Mungo's. Theodore Lupin, adopted son of the illustrious Harry Potter, is the grandson of Andromeda Tonks (neé Black). They remain the last remnants of this once great line.

He knew the name Malfoy. In fact, he'd been hearing it a lot recently. They were Alice's godparents. And her godmother had already helped them once. James was sure that she'd be willing to provide her assistance once again if they had a really compelling reason.

As for Teddy, James wasn't sure if he would be of much help, but it was good to know that he had access to a distant relative of the Blacks if he ever really needed one.

James' thoughts were interrupted by Alice closing her book with a loud thump.

"Nothing," she sighed. "It's a fairly old book, so there's only so much information in there and there's nothing about anyone named Sims that I could find. I don't think there's much to indicate they're related besides the resemblance."

"What do you mean?" James asked.

Alice flipped through the book and showed James a picture of a rather stern looking woman.

"Celeste Black," she continued to thumb through the book, showing off pictures as she did so. "Moira Black, Bellatrix Black. They all have a similar look to them. Sort of moody and dark. But so do a lot of people. I don't think it connects Rebecca definitively with the family."

James looked at the picture Alice had turned to of one Bellatrix Black. There was a certain resemblance to be sure. She and Rebecca shared the same deep-set eyes, but Alice was right. It could easily be dismissed as nothing more than a passing similarity.

"I found out your godfather is a direct descendent of the Blacks," James said. "But I don't know how that helps us."

"I've found something useful," Jerry volunteered.

"What is it?" James asked.

"Turns out it actually is possible for a pureblood to give birth to a Squib. But there's never been a recorded case of two Squibs giving birth to a wizard or witch. At least not in this book."

James looked at Alice, "Would your godmother be willing to help us out one more time?"

Alice chewed her lip thoughtfully, "I don't know why not. I can at least write and ask if St Mungo's has any record of two Squibs birthing a wizard."

James nodded, "It's a start."

He was disappointed that the night hadn't yielded more compelling evidence, but happy that they were at least getting somewhere. How and if Rebecca was connected to the Black family remained to be seen. And why it even mattered James couldn't say.

"It doesn't make sense," he said, thinking out loud. "If this family was so important why wouldn't Rebecca want everyone to know she was connected to them somehow. Why hide it?"

Alice looked at James quizzically, "Don't you know? The Blacks produced more Death Eaters than any other singular wizarding family."

"But they're all gone," James said. "My dad took care of that."

"Still," Alice said, "it's not a nice thing to have hanging over your head. Maybe there's nothing wrong with Rebecca and she's just looking to start over."

James shook his head firmly, "No, there's something wrong with her, I'm sure of it. I saw her pick something up with a handkerchief after you got cursed. I know what I saw."

"Well then why are we sitting around just reading?" Jerry leaped up to his feet. "Let's go find out what it was."

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Alice asked skeptically.

"Sneak into the Slytherin dorms tomorrow and search her stuff," Jerry said confidently. "We could pull it off. We got into the Restricted Section, didn't we?"

"And I got cursed," Alice said grimly. "This is a terrible idea. Not to mention against every school rule imaginable."

"I think it's a brilliant idea," James interrupted. "Besides, don't you want to know what really happened to you, Alice?"

"Of course, but I think you're focusing on the wrong spot. I really don't think there's anything wrong with Rebecca."

"But she's a liar!" James protested. "We figured out that no Sims family has ever existed in all of wizarding history! That's massive. We've got to find out who she really is!"

"Why?" Alice asked.

"Because," James sputtered, "because we do."

"That's not a good enough reason," Alice snapped.

"Because she's not who she says she is, and bad things keep happening to the people that look into it," Jerry interrupted. "That's why."

"If bad things happen to people who look into her, why would we even try to break into her dorm and rummage through her stuff?" Alice cried. "So all three of us can get cursed this time? No way! I'm not going through that again."

"You're just a baby," James scoffed. "You know that Rebecca's dangerous, but you're just too scared to take her on. That's all this is."

"That's not true!" Alice said.

"It is," James said. "You're being a wimp."

"You stupid, arrogant-!"

"Guys!" Jerry interjected sharply. "If you keep this up people will start to come down. And we really can't have that."

Knowing his friend was right, James opted to glare at Alice in lieu of yelling at her, hoping it would have the same effect. It certainly seemed to. Tears filled Alice's eyes, and she looked away from James, unable to stand the sight of him after he so casually brushed away her fear of repeating the terror she'd already been forced to experience once before.

"We'll figure this out later," Jerry said. "Maybe we won't break into the Slytherin dorms-."

"That was your idea!" James interrupted.

"I know, but if we get caught we'll be expelled for sure," Jerry said. "We can think of another plan. But not if we keep arguing like this."

"Whatever," James huffed, turning away. At that moment, he would have been perfectly happy to never see Alice again.