Chapter 27

The next morning, Madam Pomfrey unwillingly let Sirius out of the Hospital wing. He was extremely joyous to finally be able to leave the wretched place. He proceeded down to the Great Hall where he would join his friends for breakfast.

Just outside the Great Oak doors, however, Alaina and Jake were talking. Sirius rubbed his hands together, greedily. 'Great,' Sirius thought with a grin. 'It is about time she broke up with him.' Then, his hopes were shattered.

Alaina kissed Jake and gave him a tight hug. He wandered off down the corridor and Alaina turned towards Sirius and waved towards him. He groaned, and he knew that she still had not broken up with him. Sirius shuffled towards her, going as slow as he could. Alaina hugged him almost as tightly as she had hugged Jake.

She reached out and ran her fingers through his hair, which sent a delicious shiver down his spine. She smiled at him, sweetly. "There is something I want to tell you."

Sirius couldn't take it anymore. Seeing her with Jake was one thing, but having her be so kind to him was the final straw. The anger inside of him snapped like a Sugar Quill. "Listen. You don't need to spell it out. I know what you're going to say, I just saw you and Jake." Alaina's cheeks turned pink. "Quite honestly, I don't want to hear

it. You've made your feelings very clear. I'll deal with it, but it doesn't mean that I like it or want it shoved in my face at every opportunity."

Alaina's face went ghostly white. She nodded slowly; the tears were already streaming down her cheeks. She went over and sat down next to Brittney, who immediately cornered her about what was wrong.

Sirius felt instantly guilty; he hadn't really meant to snap at her like that. He certainly didn't want to drive her to tears. He stood up, intent on trying to apologize, but James cut him off.

"Have you heard?" James asked, sorrow lined in his eyes. Sirius shook his head, obviously it was something important. James groaned and Sirius noticed that he had the day's issue of the Daily Prophet clutched in his hand.

"Nadia's little sister died last night," James whispered gently. Sirius snapped to complete attention. James thrust the Daily Prophet into Sirius' hands. He quickly scanned the article and gathered any important information

that stood out to him. "The way it looks is that whoever sent that voice decided that he did not need her anymore, or just needed less baggage." Sirius saw how someone could take this point of view on the subject, yet he saw it

differently. He of course had been thinking about what had happened to Nadia and sister ever since that night had occurred. Sirius had come up with several conclusions but only one actually made any sense to him.

"I do not think that is the case, Prongs," Sirius muttered under his breath. "I believe that whoever is doing

this is doing it for more of a...ransom, for lack of better term." James raised his eyebrow at Sirius, but took a few seconds to think over what Sirius had said.

"So are you saying that this voice or whatever just wants money?" James asked and Sirius nodded his head. He did this a little too violently that he had to clutch his head. "Padfoot, that does not make any sense. What would a disembodied voice want with money?" Sirius rolled his eyes at James.

"I thought we had already established the fact that the voice was not disembodied. It was just in another form! I am saying that whoever is behind this whole voice is the one who wants the ransom, or as you said, money."

"Money?" Sirius and James turned around to see both Remus and Peter walking towards them. It had been Remus who had spoken, and he looked dreadfully tired. They had just wobbled down the stairs in the Great Hall, and it looked as though Peter still had his slippers on. "Are you telling me that this incorporeal voice wants money?" Sirius was getting very easily frustrated.

"Not incorporeal voice! Voice in another form!" Sirius growled, impatiently and Remus just smirked at Sirius.

"You don't even know what incorporeal means, do you?" Remus asked with a smile that could rival Snivellus'. Sirius blushed, even though he did not know why.

"All right, I don't! You caught me!" Sirius said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. The boys laughed and proceeded to walk outside, breakfast forgotten, even by Peter. Sirius' mind was completely focused on Alaina, however.

"So I believe it is time we cause mischief, my men," James said with his trademark deviltry smirk. "We have been at school for two months and we still have not set off a prank worth remembering!" Sirius' mind quickly faded away from Alaina and started to whirl with ideas on how and who to prank.

The four Marauders settled themselves underneath a great oak tree, where a awesome prank had once occurred. Sirius suddenly grinned. "I have an idea, my men. And its not just going to be against Snivellus."