The rest of December passed without much incident— Regulus went out of his way to keep the both of them too busy for Sirius's nightmares or his own dwellings on the Dark Mark partially to make sure the rest of the year wasn't uneventful. Sirius had probably noticed the increased sense of not always useful activity and decided not to mention it, and Buckbeak had certainly noticed the change. The hippogriff had taken to cawing desolately whenever the two of them left the cave with him tethered by himself. Regulus supposed that horses were herd animals, and in that sense hippogriffs were equine rather than eagle-like.

Fortunately one of the most notable events in December was the letter from Harry, who didn't know that the two had been lurking behind the stands at the First Task and so described his broomstick maneuvers in extravagant detail.

"He sounds like his father," Regulus commented mildly as he handed the letter back to his brother.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "I thought you always claimed your clearest memory of James Potter was that time in your first year when he and Peter ganged up on you and pushed you into the lake."

"It was in March, Sirius, and it was freezing. Of course I remember every detail of that," Regulus told him, rolling his eyes. "But my memory for everything else isn't awful, and I can remember him and Evans arguing about his Quidditch obsession before or after prefect meetings in your seventh year. She had a tendency to complain that he turned into a poet only when there was a broomstick involved and around Valentine's Day had written her a poem in which he compared finally going out with her with catching the snitch."

Sirius grinned. "I remember the poem. Remus told him not to send it."

"That's because Remus Lupin always had more sense than the both of you two put together," Regulus muttered. He leaned back against the cave wall. "Now, while we're on the subject of Harry, what are you planning to do for Christmas in the absence of Crookshanks or an owl? I'm still not risking Hogsmeade, the community's too small and close to the school, but since someone spotted you in France— idiot— the security in Britain's been taken down a little and I can probably get in and out of Diagon Alley without being recognized as a Black."

"Has there actually been a Hogsmeade trip yet this year?" Sirius asked absently after he came back with a mouthful of Daily Prophets one day in January.

"Mmm?" Regulus mumbled, looking up from where he'd been lavishing attention on Buckbeak. The hippogriff's orange eyes had been boring into his shoulder blades all afternoon and he'd decided that the only way he was going to get any peace would be to give the bird what he wanted. "Well, if there have been we've missed them."

"Obviously." Sirius picked up one of the papers he'd dropped when he transformed and began leafing through it. "But seriously, how many does Hogwarts usually have during the first term?"

"If it hasn't changed since the seventies, two," Regulus answered. "One around Halloween and one right before the Christmas holidays."

"Exactly. We didn't see anyone around Halloween and the only couple I've seen this winter had obviously snuck out for a romp in the moonlight," Sirius announced. "I scared the life of them when I came out of the trees— a big black, shaggy thing, they must've thought I was Snape or something. Anyway, I wonder why they haven't had any this year."

"Well, Halloween was when the students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrived, and at the risk of sounding sexist, most of the girls would probably have stayed in the bathroom trying to look nice and why would the boys go without the females?" Regulus asked, leaning over Buckbeak's back. "As for December . . . well, there was the Yule Ball."

"The what?" Sirius asked, looking up from the news.

"The Yule Ball," Regulus repeated. "Wasn't it in the papers late last year?"

"No."

"Oh. I guess I remember reading something about it in the Triwizard discussion in a book on Durmstrang or Hogwarts or something," Regulus invented. There was no way he was going to admit to Sirius that's he'd gone to talk to Snape, no way he was going to let his brother know something was worrying him that badly. Besides, he probably had read about it in the past.

"Why would you be reading something about Durmstrang?" Sirius asked absently, putting down the first of the papers and picking up the second.

"Well, our parents did think about sending us there. I can't say I wasn't curious about the place."

"No, only Mum wanted to send us to Durmstrang," Sirius answered, and a bitter edge was back in his voice, as usual when discussing their family. "She thought it might reform me, and since she blames Hogwarts for Andromeda's attitude towards Muggle-borns and had always considered Meda the entirely proper one before she went to school, she might as well send you to Bulgaria, too, so it didn't corrupt you. But Dad thought for about five minutes about the risks and logistics of sending two teenagers— especially since one of them was me— overseas and put his foot down for the first and only time in their marriage."

Regulus sighed heavily. "Sirius, you knew Mum and Dad for sixteen years out of a thirty year marriage," he pointed out. "I for nineteen. I doubt either of us can really judge how often Dad stood up to Mum."

"Well, if he'd done it more often he could've been a decent man," Sirius muttered.

"He was. Just not in your way."

Sirius glowered at his brother for a minute before looking back down at the paper and turning the page, at which the look of exasperation became a grimace. "Looks like Rita Skeeter finally got tired of embarrassing Harry with her stories and went after Hagrid," he mumbled. "And she's not looking to embarrass Hagrid."

Regulus— who knew enough about the way the Daily Prophet had worked in the past four or five years to thoroughly detest Rita Skeeter— looked up sympathetically from the feathers he'd been scratching on the hippogriff's neck. "Any of it libel?" he asked.

"Unfortunately from what I know of Hagrid, it's just very one-sided truth."

"I guess it was too much to ask that Skeeter'd slip up." Regulus shook his head and stepped out from behind Buckbeak. "And I don't think that people will see her name on a nasty article and think that she's just trying to stir up trouble, either," he added.

He held out a hand for the paper and Sirius handed it over. "I've met giants," he muttered after a moment or two of scanning it. "Breeding new species, even half fire-crabs, would be a great improvement. And the worst thing," he added, ripping the article in half, "is that this isn't even the worst thing I've seen Skeeter do to someone."

Dear Sirius and Regulus,

You've told me to keep you posted on anything weird happening around here, and a couple of strange things happened last night.

I was out under the invisibility cloak, and as I was headed back to the common room, I saw on the map that Mr. Crouch was looking through Snape's office. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going because of that, and my foot fell through one of the fake steps on the staircase I was climbing and the egg— that's the clue for the next task of the Triwizard Tournament; I was working on it— fell down the steps and opened. It wails when it opens and of course that brought Filch running in with Mrs. Norris. He thought Peeves had stolen it from me or Cedric Diggory.

The wailing brought Snape up, too, and he told Filch that someone had been stealing from his store of Potion's ingredients and he wanted Filch to forget about Peeves ad come help him look for the thief. As they were arguing Moody came down the steps. He can see through invisibility cloaks, so he knew I was there, but he didn't mention me. Filch told him how they'd found the egg and that Snape was concerned because someone had broken into his office. Snape tried to stop him from telling Moody someone had broken in. Moody wanted to know what someone would break into the office for and Snape said to steal Potion ingredients. Moody asked him if there was anything else, but Snape said that Moody had already searched his office and knew he had nothing to hide.

Then Moody saw the Marauder's map, which had fallen out of my reach when I fell through the step, and he told Snape he'd dropped something. I managed to tell Moody it was mine and he didn't let Snape pick it up, but Snape knew I was out and told Moody and Filch I was. Then Moody managed to get Snape to back to his office and make Filch give him the egg.

After that he asked me if I knew who had broken into Snape's office. I told him it was Mr. Crouch, and he asked me if he could borrow the map. I figured I owed him a favor, so I said yes.

One of the things I don't understand, though, is why Mr. Crouch would be sneaking around Snape's office in the first place. Moody told me his obsession with Dark wizards is nothing to Mr. Crouch's, but Mr. Crouch has apparently been ill— Ron's brother Percy, who's Crouch's personal assistant, came to the Yule Ball instead of him.

Anyway, I thought you might like to know.

—Harry

Regulus read the letter a second time and looked up at Sirius with a shrug. "I can't make any more sense of it than the kid can," he announced. "I mean, I understand why Crouch and Moody might suspect Snape— but I don't think it's him to put Harry's name in the goblet, Sirius, so don't you even start—"

"I wasn't. There's got to be a reason Dumbledore trusts him, even if I don't," Sirius snapped. "Snape's not going to do something like that right under the headmaster's nose."

"Good," Regulus muttered. He looked back down at the letter. "I don't understand why Crouch is getting up to his office in the middle of the night, though— from what I know of him, he doesn't strike me as someone who would go outside the letter of the law."

"He has," Sirius said, in the same bitter voice he'd used discussing their parents. "But not like that. And why would he send Percy Weasley to the Yule Ball if he suspected Snape?"

"Because he really was ill but is recovering right now?" Regulus suggested.

"Can't see it," Sirius answered, shaking his head.

"Why are you so sure?" Regulus asked.

"I know Crouch. He was the top of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement when I went to prison, remember?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, yeah, and aren't they supposed to question you under veritiserum if you ask for it?" Regulus muttered. "Well, Filch and Snape and Moody are predictable," he added, shaking his head. "It's Crouch that bothers me. And on that end, he raises more questions that either you or I have answers, doesn't he?"

"Yeah." Sirius tapped the letter a few times and then tore the bottom off and dug through his pockets for a pen. "I think it's high time we talked this out in person. That's so much easier than through letters." He put the paper against the side of the cave and hesitated a moment before adding, "There's got to be a Hogsmeade trip sometime this year," scribbling something down on the paper, and tying it to the leg of the little owl that had brought Harry's missive.

Author's Note: This chapter fails quite spectacularly to excite me, but some of it had to get done. Anyway, I'm glad everyone thinks I got Snape right; aside from Harry and Dumbledore, he's the most difficult character for me to write, and there are a lot of Snape fans aboard this fic, which just makes me more nervous when he comes into play. Well, the Second Task is up next (obviously). Thanks to everyone for the encouraging reviews last chapter! Cheers! -- Loki