Note: Hi there, everyone and thank you so much for actually reading my story. Reviews are appreciated as well of course. So, as you've probably gathered, I am not J. K Rowling, so the characters, most of the dialogues and the story itself is hers of course. I will try to add quite a few flashbacks from Remus's time at Hogwarts with James, Sirius and Peter. So, happy reading! I'm not sure when I will be able to update as I will be leaving for an excursion coming Saturday and still have a lot to prepare over the course of this week. But I'll certainly to find time to write. Promise!

Chapter 2

"What's that noise?"

The children had been discussing the issue of Sirius for quite some time. After I had finally gotten over my first initial shock, I had been eavesdropping on their conversation, surprised at the fact that Harry knew about Sirius presumably being after him. When I had talked to Dumbledore last he had informed me that the Ministry of Magic thought it best to leave Harry in the dark about the possibility that he might Sirius's target.

Just like Dumbledore, I had been on two minds regarding that matter. From what I had heard about Harry, he seemed to be made of sterner stuff than most people, having faced Voldemort two times already ( three times, if you count the infamous incident when he was only a baby) and lived to tell the tale. I did think him capable of dealing with this kind of news. But what did I know? I had never met the boy before, as of half an hour ago.

A faint, weird sound filled the compartment. It resembled a whistle. It seemed to me that I had heard the sound before but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"It's coming from your trunk, Harry." There were rustling sounds to be heard and footsteps. Cautiously, I squinted in the direction of the three kids. They were all staring at the red-haired boy's outstretched hand. I took a closer look at the object he held on his palm, realization hitting me.

"What's that?"

Sirius turned around, brushing one strand of his black hair behind his eyes and grinning at me.

"That? That is a Sneakoscope."

I stepped closer, taking what looked like a miniature glass spinning top from him and looked at it more closely, intrigued. "What does it do?"

"It's quite a handy little thing. It's supposed to warn you whenever danger is near." Sirius joined me and looked down onto the Sneakoscope with a thoughtful expression. "It's supposed to off whenever someone untrustworthy is around or whenever you are being lied to or something like that."

As if on cue, a strange sound filled the room and the Sneakoscope started spinning like mad. Both of us emitted startled sounds, staring down at it in surprise.

"What the bloody hell is that?"

I nearly dropped the Sneakoscope, whirling around to look at James and Peter, who had just come in. The sound of the door opening must have been drowned out by the whistling of the Sneakoscope.

James stepped closer with a curious expression on his face, wincing at the noise, though.

"It's the pocket Sneakoscope I bought in France. Don't you remember?"

James raised his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah, right. That thing. It's supposed to detect treachery or something like that, right? Warn you whenever someone you can't trust is around?"

Sirius nodded, glancing at the magical object; his forehead creased in thought.

James shrugged. "It does not appear to be working, though, huh? The only people in the room are the four of us."

"Yeah, you're right. Just a bit of rubbish. Still, it's pretty, isn't it? And the idea of it actually working is kind of intriguing, don't you think?" Sirius threw us a grin.

"Yes, yes, very pretty. But a bit annoying don't you think? Can't you shut that thing up, Padfoot?" Peter had joined us, casting a disdainful look at the Sneakoscope, wincing at its noise.

Sirius glanced at him, surprised. "What's up with you?"

Peter just shrugged, flopping down onto his bed and scowling at the continuing noise. "I have a headache. So, please, shut it up, will you?"

"Is that a Sneakoscope?" The girl stepped closer to the boy, glancing down onto the little spinning object curiously.

"Yeah, mind you … it's a very cheap one. It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send to Harry." The boy glanced down at it, scrunching up his nose.

The girl raised her eyebrows at him, the hint of smile on her lips. "Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?"

The boy's cheeks flushed slightly pink and he huffed. "No! Well… I wasn't supposed to be using Errol. You know he's not really up to long journeys… but how else was I supposed to get Harry's present to him?"

I could feel the corners of my lips pulling up slightly at his answer.

"Stick it back it in the trunk or it'll wake him up."

I hastily closed my eyes and feigned sleep, feeling the three pairs of eyes on me. There was a bit of rustling and finally, the compartment fell silent again.

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade. They sell that sort of thing in Derwish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff. Fred and George told me." If I wasn't mistaken, it was the red-haired boy speaking again.

"Do you know much about Hogsmeade? I've read it's the only entire non-Muggle settlement in Britain – " Before the girl could finish her sentence, she was interrupted.

"Yeah, I think it is." The boy didn't seem to think too much of it, as this statement had come out rather bored. He continued in a much more enthusiastic fashion, though, his voice rising a bit with excitement. " – but that's not why I want to go. I just want to get inside Honeydukes."

"What's that?"

"It's this sweetshop." The boy's voice had a positively dreamy note to it now. " – where they've got everything… Pepper Imps – they make you smoke at the mouth – and great fat Chocoballs full of strawberry mousse and clotted cream, and really excellent sugar quills which you can suck in class and just look like you're thinking what to write next."

A snort of laughter very nearly escaped me. I sure hoped for his sake that he would not try this last one in McGonagall's class. It was pretty much the oldest trick in the book and she for one had stopped falling for it for a long time.

"But Hogsmeade's a very interesting place, isn't it? In Sites of Historical Sorcery it says the inn was the headquarters for the 1612 goblin rebellion and the Shrieking Shack's supposed to be the most severely haunted building in Britain –"

Haunted, indeed. But very impressive that a girl as young as she was would have read Sites of Historical Sorcery. A little bookworm, that one. I liked that.

" – and massive sherbet balls that make you levitate a few inches off the ground while you're sucking them", the boy continued without heeding his friend's comment in the slightest.

Biting down onto my lip, I tried my best to keep my laughter at bay. God, they reminded me of us. This could have been one of our conversations back at school. The red-haired boy somehow seemed to be the combination of Sirius and James where the girl resembled myself.

"Gosh, I'm so excited we're finally getting to go to Hogsmeade this year. Dad has told me all about it. There are loads of cool stores, there. There is Zonko's for example, a joke shop, which has only opened recently but is already making quite a bit of money. It's supposed to be brilliant. Maybe we can find stuff for new pranks there. And dungbombs of course. We need to get a new load of Dungbombs – "

"Don't forget about Honeydukes, though, James. The best sweet shop there is in Britain according to most people. Imagine that… a store full of the finest chocolate, liquorice wands, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Droobles and all the rest. And a lot of prank sweets of course. I think I've heard someone talk about blood flavoured sweets and stuff like that... – "

"Pranking and eating, is that all you guys think about? You do realize that Hogsmeade is the only entirely wizard village in the whole of Britain? That there are several historical events which had their origins in Hogsmeade –"

James cut me off with a huff. "Yes, yes, Remus. Please spare us the history lesson, we'll have to endure Binn's mindless rambling soon enough. Until then, no more talking about history, ok?"

Sirius elbowed me, beaming at me. " James is right. Forget about the history stuff for a second there, Remie. Think of Honeydukes rather. Chocolate everywhere. Everywhere you turn. The scent of chocolate in the air. Should be your idea of paradise, shouldn't it?"

The scowl I was trying to maintain on my face as a response to James simply brushing my comment off, was slowly but surely slipping at Sirius's description of Honeydukes.

Finally, I surrendered and grinned back at my friend, who was still grinning at me mischievously. "Oh, all right. Honeydukes does sound like paradise. It'll be our first stop, agreed?"

Sirius clapped his hands in delight, his grey eyes twinkling with mischief. "Yay! Sweets and pranks, the sweetest things in life!"

They were so much like us. Happily chatting about Hogsmeade, wondering about what it would be like, every single one marvelling at their idea of what they pictured Hogsmeade to be like. At least until Harry told them that he wouldn't be able to go. That definitely put a damper on the mood of the other two.

"You're not allowed to come? But – no way – McGonagall or someone will give you permission – "

A hollow laugh was the only answer the red-haired boy got and when I squinted at them again, Harry was shaking his head dejectedly. The red-haired boy didn't let that discourage him, though, obviously racking his brain for what to do.

" – or we can ask Fred and George, they know every secret passage out of the castle –"

Did they now? I certainly would have to have an eye on those two. And every single passage? It certainly would surprise me if they did. These two certainly did sound like interesting characters, I would have to keep their names in mind.

"Ron!" The girl had decided to weigh in, glaring at the boy. " I don't think Harry should be sneaking out of school with Black on the loose – ".

Once again, I was struck with how much the girl reminded me of myself when I was younger that I barely felt the jolt of pain that coursed through my chest at the sound of Sirius's name.

"Yeah, I expect that's what McGonagall will say when I ask for permission." Harry's voice sounded bitter and he was glaring at the floor, plucking at a stray thread on his jumper.

"But if we're with him… Black wouldn't dare."

Once again, I nearly laughed out loud at the boy's comment. God, he was just so young. What would I give to be so young and naïve again, just for one day.

The girl, though, seemed to be a lot more realistic and quite sharp for her age. She shook her head energetically, rolling her eyes. "Oh, Ron, don't talk rubbish! Black's already murdered a whole bunch of people in the middle of a crowded street. Do you really think he's going to worry about attacking Harry just because we're there?"

Well, she for one certainly had a good head on her shoulders. Very bright!

"Don't let that thing out!" The boy's shout caused me to jump slightly and once again, I furtively glanced in their direction to see what was going on. The girl had opened the basket sitting on the seat next to her and a huge, orange cat had jumped out of it, stretching luxuriously now before jumping onto the red-haired boy's feet.

Angrily, he shoved the cat away. "Get out of it."

Not a fan of cats apparently.

"Ron, don't!" The girl chimed up, shooting daggers at the boy. He raised his head, his eyes filled with anger and was just about to snap at her when I decided to intervene by reminding them of my presence to stop this from turning out into a full-blown fight.

Stirring lightly, I turned my head the other way, as if in sleep, at which they immediately fell silent. After a brief moment of silence, in which they seemed to be watching me for any other signs of life, they continued their conversation about Hogsmeade, their near fight forgotten. Soon after, I finally managed to really fall asleep instead of just pretending.